The Meaning of Love
by Kaiyosei
Summary: After Mamoru dies unexpectedly in battle, Usagi is left alone in a vulnerable state when Prince Demando captures her in an attempt to win her love.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first Sailor Moon work ever. It's been about 8 years since I last saw the show, but recently I've been getting sort of reacquainted with the series. While its target is aimed for kids and young teens, and the English dub has gone beyond cheesy at times, I have to say that after watching a few episodes over again, I still really enjoy it. A lot of the characters are much deeper and more interesting than I'd remembered them to be, and I thought I would write something about my favorite unrequited couple of all time- Usagi and Demando.

--

_Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order._

_-Seneca_

--

_It was all wrong,_ Usagi thought, unable to stop tears from cascading down her face as she recalled the horrible event once more. _We were meant to be! Everything led up to our future… those projections that came to us after Chibiusa appeared… our daughter herself… that future that had shone so clear and bright, the two lovers, Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion… Wasn't _that _my whole destiny?_

A silent wail rose up within her, threatening to burst out even as she held it in painfully. Now that intricate knot that tied the bonds between present and future had been severed forever. And her life was shattered. Her belief in that omnipotent force, Fate, had carried her from one battle to the next, giving her strength because she knew she would move on into the future until she finally reached that point of stability and eternal happiness when it was all over. The future that had been planned for her, so unclear to others, had been the one thing she had known, and it became as familiar to her as her own name. It was something she could embrace freely because she understood it, understood how everything in her life would unfold.

But it was no longer so. Suddenly, with the death of her most beloved, everything ahead seemed unfathomable and uncertain. What was there left to believe in? It had always been her destiny to fight to save Earth, to eventually become the new Queen of Crystal Tokyo and the Earth one day, to marry Mamoru…

But she had been thrown suddenly from a friendly and clearly lit pathway onto a dim road where every step she took seemed to lead into a trap. Even her friends couldn't revive her from the devastation of this loss. The striking pangs of lost love resounded deeply in her heart, but perhaps even more unsettling than losing the one person she'd ever loved was the sense of losing her place in the universe. Everything she'd believed in went crashing down right before her eyes, and she could no longer hold up the weight of this new despair. That driving force of hope had evaporated, draining her of all her willpower. How could she fight any longer, when she could no longer understand what it was that she was fighting for? Ever since that day when Mamoru died, the universe that she cared for so much as its eternal protector became an utter enigma. Fate had changed its course, and so she too must change; she had to find a way to go on while facing an agonizing and unfamiliar route in the midst of the darkness of death.

--

"Will she be all right?" Rei spoke with uncertainty. For days, Usagi had practically imprisoned herself in her own room. She wouldn't speak with anyone, neither friends nor family members, and when the senshi had tried to go up to speak with her, they could only hear a volatile silence that was constantly interrupted by the sound of soft sobs. "I know she's going through a really hard time, but I wish she'd let us go see her. She knows we only want to make her feel better."

"She doesn't seem to _want_ to feel better," Ami said softly. "It's as if the death of Mamoru has destroyed her entire world… and I think it has, in a way."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked, concern in her voice. "I know she's lost Mamoru, but it doesn't have to be the end of everything. She's so strong that it amazes me sometimes."

"I think there's more to it," Ami said. "Besides, this is how anyone would act after the death of someone important to them. We all liked Mamoru, but Usagi loved him." She spoke these words with sad simplicity, her navy blue eyes deep in thought.

"I wish we could help her," Minako said, tears threatening her eyes. "I never expected anything like this to happen. I was always so sure that it would all turn out all right, that Usagi and Mamoru would be together in the very end."

"I think that this horrible event has made her lose her sense of herself," Ami said. She seemed to understand most deeply what was happening with Usagi, but even so, it wasn't enough to get through to her.

"We should try to talk to her again, though." Rei looked around as she said this, silently asking the others for their support.

"I think we should wait a while," Makoto said. "When she's ready, we'll help her through. Right now she must still be figuring out what's coming next for her, and I think we should let her think about everything before inputting our own opinions."

"Right," The others said in unison.

--

Prince Demando sat on his elaborate throne, sipping from a small glass cup of red wine. His gaze was drawn to the projection of Neo Queen Serenity, azure eyes glowering fiercely at him as she stood, fists clenched, wrapped in a lovely white gown that seemed to flow with the movement of the wind. Her wispy golden hair was suspended in the air, gently grazing her dress. The image was so beautiful that once he managed to rivet his eyes from her majestic figure, the entire room seemed to look gray and blurred. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on, and he spent all of his time alone looking upon her lovely frame, unable to draw his eyes from it until necessity called upon him to do so.

For some reason, the effect those angry eyes had on him was the exact opposite of what she had mostly likely intended. Rather than driving him away, they pulled him towards her. When he looked at the hologram, dazzlingly beautiful in its place at the center of the room, it seemed to transcend everything he had ever encountered in his short lifetime. When he sat here, simply gazing in his dark longing, the world seemed small and far away, and the only thing he could think about was her. Even his life's mission of avenging himself on the people of Earth, who had banished his clan so long ago, seemed insignificant when he looked upon that face.

What was it that drew him to her so much? The goddess-like beauty certainly contributed to the powerful feelings that awoke inside him whenever he saw her. But there was something else, too. Something within her made her completely irresistible. Perhaps it was the feeling that he got when he gazed into those eyes, full of righteous fury… that all the justice, the goodness, the love in the world was contained inside that one human being. It was something that attracted him deeply, yet made him afraid at the same time.

He would do anything to make her his…

--

Safir looked onto the city of Tokyo gloomily from his palace. His brother had hardly paid any attention to him for the past few days, and he was unhappy about Esmeraude, who moped after his brother day by day, yet refused to give him a chance. The revenge that they had planned was not something that he truly wanted, but he followed through out of loyalty to his brother rather than his own desires. It was frustrating that they would have to fight the Sailor Senshi in order to take over the planet, and he sometimes wondered if it was really worth risking their lives to exact revenge on this small planet that had banished them centuries ago.

"You look deep in thought." Esmeraude smirked. "What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking…" Safir hesitated. "Do you think this is worth it?"

Esmeraude looked at him in surprise. "Worth it?"

"I think that maybe we shouldn't be killing everyone on this planet now. They drove our entire clan out and banished us to Nemesis, but that was a long time ago, and it's true that some of our people were at fault. But isn't that the reason we're fighting, so we can come back to live on this planet? If we do all this now, it's almost as if we're showing that we as a people deserved to be banished." Safir looked troubled as he said these words, suddenly realizing how true they were. "We have other options. We could try to negotiate…"

"Negotiate?" Esmeraude's lips curled up into a snarl. "You're trying to say that Prince Demando's plan isn't right? That we should spare these fools who sent us to that drab planet of Nemesis and left us there to die, not even knowing what kinds of conditions there were?"

Safir looked at her in pain. True, she was beautiful, but she lessened that striking beauty with her arrogance and vanity. Her snarling lips made her look somewhat wicked and repulsive, and those disdainful eyes filled him with a sense of despair. Why couldn't she give up her dreams of being queen, and leave her self-importance behind for once? He had feelings for her, but she simply immersed herself in images of her own glory as his brother's Queen, never giving any attention to the one who truly cared for her.

--

"I have a mission to attend to," Demando announced to his minions. "It appears, from the information I have gathered, that the current form of Neo Queen Serenity is a teenage girl, Usagi Tsukino. Her face and form have all been confirmed to match that of Neo Queen Serenity, and apparently her lover, the one known as the future King Endymion, has recently died in a battle with the Senshi's most powerful enemy." Something in his deep violet eyes glinted as he said this. Perhaps there was a chance… it seemed that with the death of Endymion, history had rewritten itself. Now the young Queen-to-be was sad and vulnerable with the loss of her old love.

He could take advantage of the situation, he knew. He could seize her in her weakness and capture her, forcing her to live with him in his palace while he destroyed the Earth and all its inhabitants. It would be everything he had ever wished for, all completed in one fell swoop…

But then there was a tiny feeling that bothered him, almost insisting for him to reconsider as he fantasized about his future plans. And try as he might, he could not set it aside; it was the same feeling he got when he looked at his kind brother Safir, or when he had, on occasion, traipsed upon a rare flower blooming on the cold earth of Nemesis, in times when he was younger and far more innocent.

--

There. I just had to begin writing a Demando/Usagi story. As of now I'm not too sure how I'm going to go on with this, but I've got a fairly good idea of how the story will unfold. I'll try to update as soon as possible, since I've gotten really into writing this story. I hope you all enjoyed it for now.


	2. Chapter 2

*Edit: fixed some spelling issues in the chapter.

And it's… chapter 2! It seems like I'm the only one who's actively updating a Demando/Usagi story. But then again, I supposed that would make sense, since the show hasn't been on air since about… 7 years? It's kind of sad, really, because when I started watching it, I was only 5 and far too young to ever write anything about it. Ah well, enough with the little tangent I'm having.

_Erte-Girl_: Thank you so much for the nomination! I've officially received notice from the contest, and I'm really glad that you liked my story enough to choose it as the story of the month. I appreciate knowing that there's someone who thinks it at least has enough potential to become a decent and interesting story. Thanks for being so encouraging =)

--

_"When you're miserable, you need something that's even more miserable than yourself."_

--

"We'll need some way to isolate her from the other senshi," Demando said to his brother. There was nothing to do now but go on with his mission, and if he delayed any longer his minions might even begin to resent him. Rubeus had already complained about the long journey and requested somewhat timidly, though not nearly timidly enough, that the Prince start acting out on his revenge plan. Sighing, Demando told Safir, "I'll order the Akayashi sisters to create a diversion. The girl known as Usagi Tsukino will most likely be too upset by the loss of that boy to go with them… and then taking her away will be simple."

"Okay," Safir said, not wanting to argue with his older brother despite his doubts. "Should I go give them your orders now then, since undoubtedly you are busy preparing for the encounter?"

"Go ahead," Demando said carelessly. "The main point is to find this 'Sailor Moon', the younger incarnation of Neo Queen Serenity, and use her silver crystal to our advantage. These diversions are simply necessary to achieve that goal, as I'm sure you know, Safir."

Safir nodded and walked out, pushing aside the heavy silver doors of Demando's chamber.

--

Makoto looked outside her window and sighed. It was depressing not being able to talk to Usagi, who usually brightened the spirits of the entire group with her cheeriness and humorous antics. She was the glue that tied them together, and kept them through the hard times. But now it was Usagi herself who was going through those phases of depression and sorrow that were so uncharacteristic of her, and nobody knew how to return things to normal. Even though she hadn't known Mamoru well enough to miss him the way Usagi did, she felt a portion of her friend's pain. She was sure that all the Sailor senshi were going through their own troubled times now. It seemed as if depression had become the normal atmosphere around them since Mamoru's death.

The sky, she noted, was a light gray, and the light of the sun escaped through the clouds, although the sun itself was obscured from view. She decided to let in a small breeze, since the effects of being cooped up in her own room were starting to show. As the wind swept her face with gentle pressure, she heard the faint strains of yelling.

"Help! Please, someone save us! There are monsters everywhere!" A shrill voice shouted, breaking into Makoto's previous peace. More screams seemed to follow, echoing through the air.

"I've got to help," Makoto said, eyes wide open in surprise. "Something is definitely going on down there, and maybe I'm the only one who's heard it."

She ran down the stairs and through the screen door, her feet barely touching the pavement. "Oh my…"

There were four of them. Their forms immediately gave the fact that they were not human away, and they were attacking people left and right. Buildings were being decimated by their strange powers.

Makoto looked around, wishing that her friends were around. Could she handle these four on her own? Most likely not. But she acted quickly and decisively, knowing that she was the only one here to help these people. "Jupiter Star Power!"

She quickly transformed into Sailor Jupiter, wondering whether she could hold off the enemies without her friends. She couldn't waste time signaling them for help, but… In her indecision, she froze for a second.

It was just at this moment that she heard the sound of pattering feet behind her, and turned with hope. There, standing behind her, were the three other inner senshi- Mercury, Mars, and Venus. It looked as if she'd be able to get the help she needed after all.

"Time to beat these monsters!" Makoto shouted, aware of Usagi's absence, but understanding that the only thing to do now, whether Usagi could manage to make it or not, was to fight.

"Let's go!" The Sailor senshi shouted together.

And so the battle began.

--

Usagi quietly opened her bedroom door and walked out. For the past few days, she'd been avoiding everyone as much as possible, and today was no different. She timidly stepped down the stairs and went into the kitchen to get her first meal of the day, despite the fact that it was already 2:00 in the afternoon. She was a mess, she knew. But she didn't want to go back to the outside world now. She knew she wasn't ready to face that world, a world full of children and smiling faces and laughter.

It wasn't that she was trying to be selfish; she wasn't. She had no desire to deprive anyone of happiness, no matter what state she was in herself. But she could not bring herself to go back to that place where Mamoru had lived, that open world full of those who could never understand her sorrow. While everyone else's lives were going on, her life was halted in this one moment, clouded by her incapability to see how she could possibly live in a world without Mamoru. It wasn't that she didn't want to see other people happy, exactly. It was more that their happiness reminded her of her own sadness, and she knew that nothing would be able to help her restrain her tears if she saw friends laughing together, or families enjoying themselves, or starry-eyed lovers holding hands. It was simply too much to bear, knowing that you existed in a whole different world from that place of happiness.

"Mamoru," she spoke the name softly, and felt a heightening despair within her. "How could you die? I loved you so much… and now…"

The tears began spilling once more, and she hurriedly wiped them. She looked at the food her mother had left her before she went to work. She took a tiny bite from a sandwich, and could not taste anything at all.

Her arms grew weak as she stared at the gloomy interior of her kitchen. Her eyes were swollen and her face was uncomfortably warm and wet from her rampant flow of tears earlier on. She closed her eyes and put her head down, willing herself not to think about anything anymore.

"Usagi Tsukino." The deep, resonating sound of a man's voice rang through her kitchen.

In her surprise, Usagi snapped up. "Who's there?" Whirling around, she saw a tall figure dressed in clothes of purest white, with royal blue embroidery on both sides of his shirt. Staring in shock, Usagi managed to say weakly, "How… how did you get in here?"

He smiled, a hint of satisfaction showing through in his features. For some reason, Usagi was inexplicably struck by this man's eyes. To begin with, they were an enigmatic shade of faded violet, and slightly arched in a sad way. They were filled with a dark energy, and though Usagi could seen no light in his eyes, there was something hidden in them that gave Usagi an indescribable feeling. There was so much contained in his glance… she could feel it, but could not understand what it was that shone through in his eyes. Half mesmerized, Usagi stared at him despite her rising fear. He was thin and pale, yet had an extraordinarily handsome visage in spite of the fact that there was an apparent lack of warmth in his hard features. His brilliant white hair was the color of purest snow, and she could make out the mark of an inverted moon on his forehead.

"How I got here is unimportant," the young man said softly. "You know as well as I do that it'd be impossible to get in without you noticing, at least not by physical means…"

"So you…" She paused in wonderment. "What are you, then?"

"That's a little rude of you," Demando said, a half smile forming on his lips as he looked upon the object of his greatest desires. "If you want an introduction, perhaps you should start by asking me _who _I am."

"Wh…" Usagi looked at him in surprise. Then she grew angry at the audacity of this man, to break into her house and call her rude after everything that had happened in her life. Why couldn't everyone just leave her alone? "You're in no position to be calling me rude, when _you're_ the one who barged into my house! Why are you here and what do you want with me?"

Prince Demando's lifetime of training in regards to retaining his composure at all times allowed him to brush these words off without betraying any hint of emotion, though he felt a certain anxiousness inside. "I suppose you're right about that. Allow me to explain, please."

Usagi looked at him with anger and suspicion. What was he trying to do? If he tried anything… she grimaced. Well, if he tried anything, she'd have to defend herself by changing into Sailor Moon. Things could get out of hand then, but there was no other option. She decided she would rather stall, but keep herself on guard for an attack. "Fine. Go ahead and explain."

"Good," Demando said, satisfied. "I suppose I should start at the beginning. I am Prince Demando, leader of the Black Moon Clan, a race that was banished from Earth by your royal family to live in the barren, distant planet of Nemesis. A group of us have now returned to Earth generations later for the purpose of exacting our revenge on the planet of people who left us to die, stranded on a far region of the universe, away from the beauties of life here. And in order to do so, I require your powers and the Silver Crystal in your possession, since you are the past incarnation of Neo Queen Serenity herself."

Usagi was taken aback by his blunt words, but sensed the complete sincerity with which he spoke them. She said testily, "If your plan is to avenge yourselves of the wrongdoings Earth has committed to you… then why are you telling _me_ all this? I hope you've realized, since you seem to know so much about me, that whatever you try to do against our planet, I _will _do my best to stop you?"

"Ah, but you don't understand," Demando said, his face darkening with desire. He stared longingly at her face, a face of pure and unmatched beauty, and his eyes glinted as he spoke. "I see that I'll have trouble convincing you to come over to our side. But I want _you _to be by my side as queen, Usagi. Or rather, Neo Queen Serenity, should I say?"

Usagi stared at him in shock as the clear lust registered on his features. Looking up into his face, she suddenly saw a trace of Mamoru's image hovering above the intruder, sadly fading away. The illusion created from the overwhelming strength of her own emotions shocked her. With all her force of will, she looked straight into his eyes and said passionately, "Never. As long as I live, I will never betray Mamoru's love for the likes of people such as you."

_Those eyes again, _he thought bitterly. They were so beautiful, so blazingly clear, and yet full of repulsion and antipathy towards him. With an uncontrolled scowl on his previously placid face, he advanced towards her. Ready for this anticipated move, Usagi quickly took an ornately designed circular object from her pocket and raised it over her head, sweeping her hands over the surface. "Moon Crystal Power!"

Demando was startled by her sudden action. He activated the power of his third eye, and a sickly yellowish glow flooded the entire room. _This will keep her at bay for now._

Uttering a low moan, Usagi fell to the ground in a state of pitiable exhaustion. She felt too weak… Unable to move, she struggled to get up and escape him.

"All the same, you _will _come to me," Demando said in a triumphant, though slightly conflicted tone. Carefully reaching to lift her up, making sure not to damage any part of her lovely, delicate form, he placed her limp body over his shoulders, and rose into the air. Usagi made a sudden movement, attempting to remove herself from his arms.

"Let…me…go," Usagi pleaded, her voice hoarse as she struggled with the dizziness induced by the sudden drain of energy.

Demando looked down at the beautiful girl he was holding, and was tempted to listen to her, to lie and tell his people that he had failed in his mission. Something about the sad way in which she spoke those words stirred a powerful emotion in him for a moment; it made him feel as if he were taking something away that could never be replaced.

He wanted her so much, but at the same time he almost wanted to let her go. How he wished that he could make her happy, that he could give her everything she ever needed, and fill to the brim the hole in her heart that had been left by her deceased love. Taking her in this way, snatching her from her life on Earth against her will, instilled in him a feeling of discontent, of emptiness.

But there was no choice. He had been the one who campaigned for this revenge, the one who had initiated this plan of revenge on Earth. There was still a deep hatred in him for what mankind had done to his clan, and nothing, he thought, could change that. It was his duty to take this young princess and use her powers for the benefit of his entire race. Whatever he felt at this moment was of no importance, and he convinced himself that taking her was only necessary; after all, as Prince, the most important thing was to look out for the good of Nemesis and its people. Besides, if he let her go now, how would he ever get another chance? In his heart of hearts, he still wanted to believe that he could find a way to make her love him.

--

I think I'll leave it at that for now. The next chapter will begin the development of their relationship with each other. And please review so I know what you think of it so far! I'd really like some suggestions or comments to help me improve my writing, and it'll probably help give me some ideas, too. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I'm glad that people are enjoying the story so far, and I'm happy that I'm actually doing pretty well in Otaku Online Stop's poll.

Also, a little side note to avoid confusion: For the sake of making the plot less complicated, Wiseman is not in the story, at least not as of now, since his corrupting presence is counterproductive to what I'm working towards. I'll probably introduce him later on, though, but he'll be working independently, rather than attached to Demando and his clan.

And that's about all I have to say for now. Enjoy!

--

_Each of us bears his own Hell. _

_-Virgil_

--

Usagi woke up in a completely unfamiliar setting. She was lying on a supremely comfortable bed, her body cloaked enveloped in periwinkle blue silk sheets, in one of Demando's vast rooms. A circular ceiling embellished with majestic images of kings and queens hung over her, and the room had silver walls that seemed to glow. But though the chamber was astonishingly beautiful in appearance, there was a frigidness that penetrated the air, making Usagi shiver as she unwrapped her blankets. _Where am I? _She wondered, and her thoughts seemed to echo across the room. The sheer stillness of her surroundings felt almost menacing to her.

She sat up slowly. Suddenly she realized that she had on a different outfit than what she had been wearing before her encounter with that strange man, Prince Demando. She now donned a long, flowing white dress that had an intricate golden design made of swirls serving as its neckline. She gently felt her dress with the tips of her fingers, marveling at the smoothness of its material. Looking around, she had the sensation that she was in a dream, because this place was far too strange and beautiful to be real.

As she looked down upon the dress again, she realized with a sudden start that it was impossible for her to be wearing different clothes than what she'd had on before unless…

"Oh, no!" She cried in an aggravated tone, though was no one around to hear her. She couldn't believe that while she'd been asleep, he had actually _changed_ her clothes. It was far too much to bear thinking about. She buried her head in her hands, recoiling with disgust at the thought.

_I need to get out of here right now_, she thought. _But who knows what else resides in this strange place? I'm certain that I'm not alone here, and that man, Demando, is clearly trying to keep me in here. If I get out of this bed and look around a little, I could find out more about this place and eventually escape. If I happen to get caught wandering around, I could always say that I've simply woken up and wanted to take a walk or something, and I doubt that anyone would be able to do anything about it. After all, Demando said…_

The creaking sound that followed the opening of the ancient hinges of her room's door interrupted her cogitation. Usagi turned to see a man dressed in navy blue standing at the doorway. He had deep blue-gray eyes and a sad face, and though Usagi could not be certain of his relationship to Demando, she immediately saw the resemblance between the two young men. There was a certain atmosphere of nobility and grandeur that could be felt in the presence of both, yet also an inexplicable sadness subtly revealed in both of their eyes. In a way, it made her feel more comfortable with this new stranger. Whether she wanted to or not, she connected to him because he, too, had capacity for sorrow.

"You are Usagi Tsukino, correct?" Safir said, looking at her squarely.

Usagi said nothing, but nodded in a manner that was defiant. She did not bother to hide her disapproval of her treatment in any way.

"My name is Safir. Demando asked me to check on you. You've been asleep for three days now," Safir said calmly. "I hope you've been finding everything suitable?"

"Well, I just woke up, so there's not much I can say about that," Usagi said suspiciously. "But why do you want to know? I sort of doubt you particularly care about my wellbeing, considering that you've just met me."

"You're going to have to get accustomed to it," Safir said, in a voice that was almost kind. "My brother, Demando, is planning on keeping you here for… well, a long time."

"What do you mean?" Usagi asked sharply. "What exactly does he want with me?"

"Even I'm not sure about what his purposes for you are," Safir said. "He will come speak to you later, and you can ask him then. But for now, I have come to bring some food for you."

He walked over, carrying a plate full of delicious-looking food. Usagi reached out and grabbed an item without looking, before discovering that she had chosen a sandwich very similar to what her mother had prepared for her on the day she'd been taken away. "Thank you," she said with genuine gratitude. "But I would rather go home than stay here and eat all this food. Please, let me return to where I belong."

"I'm not allowed to do that," Safir said firmly. "I do have my sympathies for you, but it would make me happy if you gave Demando a chance."

Usagi turned towards him, and their faces were level as she looked silently into his eyes. "You really care about him, don't you?"

"Yes," Safir said, though he did not yield under Usagi's probing gaze. "He's always been kind to me, and he has always burdened himself with the responsibilities of the people. Ever since our father died in a war that we almost lost with another banished civilization, Demando has sacrificed a part of himself to become an unbreakable leader, so that our race would never be beaten down again. It's been his life's goal to restore the Black Moon Clan to its former prestige, and he believes that in order to so, we must destroy Earth first. That's why he's come all this way, and tried so hard to hunt you down. But he never expected to fall in love with you, the future queen of the world that sent us to our doom."

Usagi's eyes were wide open, and there was an expression of pain on her face. "That sounds so unbearably sad. I can't imagine how it must be to close yourself off like that, in order to become strong for the sake of your people. But… he must understand that I can't return his love for me. It wouldn't be right. I loved Mamoru, and now that he's dead…"

The grief she had felt for the past week since his death returned to her once more as she thought of Mamoru, and she was unable to speak any longer. She knew that if she did, her voice would break and betray the fact that she was on the verge of tears. She clamped her mouth shut and abruptly looked down at the sheets again.

"I understand," Safir said. "Don't trouble yourself over it for now. Perhaps I can talk to Demando. I can imagine, to some extent, how you are feeling right now."

"Couldn't you just let me go now?" Usagi pleaded. "If you understand how I'm feeling, then please just send me away and tell Demando later that you believed you were doing the right thing. You're his brother, after all, so he'll understand. Besides, you must have some authority over this place."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot," Safir said. Usagi winced at his obstinacy. "I cannot deliberately undermine the decrees of my brother. And I think it may turn out to be a good thing if you stay here after all. I can't explain it, but something tells me that it isn't your time to leave yet."

With those words, Safir left Usagi in her room.

Usagi was crushed. Was she going to be kept here indefinitely, never to see her family and friends again? She had already lost Mamoru, but now she was losing everyone else that had made her life worth living. She could _not _remain here and simply allow herself to be subjected to the wishes of Prince Demando, whom she barely even knew, without any choices, any happiness. To do so would be to follow through an empty existence, one far worse than death.

She still had the sandwich Safir had left for her in the palm of her hand. She brought it up to her mouth, biting off a tiny piece of it. It was tasteless.

--

Safir was about to return to his own room when Esmeraude surprised him with her approach in the dark corridor. "Hello, Safir."

"Esmeraude," Safir stated simply, acknowledging her. He wondered why she bothered to seek him out now, since she had never before so much as came near his bedchamber. Demando's room was in a larger, grander section of the palace, and he always saw her trying to catch Demando's attention when he visited his older brother there. "Is there something you want to ask me?"

"Oh, no. Not really," Esmeraude said, waving her fingers carelessly. "But I've been told by one of the royal servants that you were just in the room where that little girl has been sleeping these last few days."

"Yes, I was," Safir said, his eyebrows raised slightly. "What about it?"

"Well?" Esmeraude said. "What's she like?"

"She has quite an interesting personality," Safir said. "She's clearly unhappy about being here, as one might expect, but after speaking with her, I've found that she seems to see aspects of human nature very clearly."

"That's not what I meant," Esmeraude said haughtily, her eyes flashing. "I want to know what she looks like, and what about her seems to make her so appealing to Prince Demando."

"Why do you want to know that?" Safir said, drawing in his breath.

"Because there have been rumors going around this palace that Demando wants to rule with _her_ as Queen," Esmeraude said, her face contorted with repulsion at the idea. "And I want you to help me dispel those ridiculous rumors with some evidence that there's no way Demando would ever do something so foolish."

"Meaning that you want me to tell you she's nasty and brutish, and of such a revolting appearance that no one could possibly fall in love with her," Safir said unhappily, seeing right through her guise of trying to help Demando. "You're jealous, Esmeraude."

Esmeraude stiffened upon hearing Safir's prompt accusation. She looked as if she were about to strike Safir, but then thought better of it and simply let out a false, hollow laugh. "As if I could be jealous of that little girl. _Please_, Safir. Get over yourself. I never asked you to judge how I'm feeling. I'll make sure not to pass by your room again, so I don't have to put up with such impudence from someone who calls himself a man."

Safir watched her as she turned her back on him, his perfect face marred by a thin frown. It was painful for him to look at her pale, sharp figure walking away from him. Her lime-green hair bounced softly with each step, but the glimmering green strands seemed to taunt him as they waved back and forth, growing further away with each step that she took.

--

Demando felt a certain tension in his heart as he stepped up to the silvery doors that he had passed in and out of hundreds of times. Behind the heavy gate-like door was the one girl who could make him, a born prince and successor to the throne, feel intimidated. Without allowing any room for hesitation, however, he pulled the crystal handle of the door and walked inside.

Usagi looked warily towards the door, expecting that it was Safir giving her more food or perhaps bringing her news of her fate. Instead, her eyes locked onto the man who had whisked her from her home into this place of despair- Prince Demando himself. Unsure of what to say, she crossed her arms deliberatively and simply watched him, waiting.

"Usagi," he said, breaking the strange silence of the room. "I've been told by Safir that you've been awake for a few hours now. It's quite impressive that it's only taken you three days to recuperate from the energy transformation caused by the Dark Crystal, the source of all our power here. An average person would have taken weeks to finally awaken from that slumber."

"Prince Demando." Usagi spoke with a rebellious tone in her voice. "Perhaps you ought to just give up on this revenge attempt and send me home now."

Demando winced slightly at the girl's obvious unwillingness to stay here, even after having seen the beauty of the palace, but he refused to soften or back down. "As I'm sure you know, that won't happen, Usagi. I cannot allow you to leave."

Usagi sat still, saying nothing. Demando could see the fierce glower in her eyes, and it made him uncomfortable. In an attempt to break some of the tension, he said earnestly, "I'd like for us to get to know each other." He regretted speaking those words as soon as he'd finished, an instinctual feeling he got when he let on to a weak spot, but he let them hang there as he sought her eyes.

Usagi was surprised that someone like Demando could be so direct about such a thing. She was moved by the way he spoke, but she was also resilient in her determination not to give him any satisfaction. She said softly, without her previous petulance, "Demando, I understand that you're going to try to use my powers for your vengeance, and you know that I'll do my best to convince you otherwise, so long as I'm here and have control over my own will. But why do you want me to be here so much? And what are you going to do in the case that you finish your mission of revenge, and still have me here? Would you ever let me go?"

Demando's gaze did not waver as she asked him, but he seemed to almost be questioning himself as he replied evasively, "You're the only person I've ever wanted, Usagi, and I need you to reside in this palace with me." His countenance softened, if only slightly, and he turned his face from her when he spoke. "I'll leave you to yourself for a while. You can look around my palace if you want. I honestly don't wish to make you feel restricted here, but you must remain within the borders of the Crystal Palace." With those words, he walked quickly out through the doors.

He knew he had avoided her last question, but he did not know the answer to that himself. If he told her that he would keep her here forever, he suspected she would immediately become bitter and disconsolate. Better to leave her with hopes, whether they revealed themselves true or false, than to let her slowly wither in her room, imprisoned more by her mentality than by her actual surroundings, he thought.

He had also been unable to bring himself to say the word 'loved' to her, instead replacing it with the weaker, far less meaningful substitute of 'wanted'; for he was convinced that telling Usagi that he loved her would make her rejection of him a far more desperate reality. He wasn't sure of his own feelings; how did you draw the line between desire and passion, and true love?

Was it even possible to really _know_, to have it ingrained in every particle of your being, that you loved someone else so much that you would be willing to do anything for them? He refused to share and pour out the immensity of the emotion he felt with her, in the fear that he would only end up looking like a fool. His lifetime of living in cold, withdrawn dignity prevented him from breaching the barrier that separated him from warmth and kindness. He felt as if he were standing on the edge of a cliff that was so high that he could not see the bottom. He had no idea, if he jumped, whether he would, after the longest and most torturously uncertain fall, shatter on the impact of striking the ground he had been unable to see before him, or whether he would be carried away in the air to a land of infinite beauty. It was impossible to tell, and he could not bring himself to take that risk. And so he remained standing at the brink of the fall, perpetually looking down and pondering what would happen if he took a leap away from the lofty but harsh structure of stone beneath him. Unable to move forward, he was bound by his fear of love.

--

Usagi had briefly glimpsed the flicker of uncertainty in Demando's deep violet eyes, and it worried her. There was more to this man than could be seen from his external actions and expressions, and she felt almost guilty at the way she'd acted towards him. She knew that she was not the one at fault in this situation, but for some reason, it saddened her to look at Demando. Like her, the thing he wanted most in the wide universe happened to be the thing most unattainable for him. Her preconceptions of her own fate had built a wall of resistance that stopped her from letting others come in, and because of it, she could not accept Demando's offer.

Still, there might be a chance that he would let her out, after he realized that it was impossible for her to love anyone now. He seemed to have a weakness for her that went beyond his initial, obvious admiration of her appearance, and she could sense his growing unease at keeping her here against her will. Usagi smiled gently, a surge of energy jolting through her. Perhaps it was possible, after all, to be able to leave without forming an escape plan. In her relief, she fell back onto the bed, her view turning upwards to the ceiling. The images of royal kings and queens looked down upon her, and almost seemed to haunt her with her own reality, that she would live on to become a queen without a king.

What she wanted most at this moment was to have order restored to her ever-turbulent life. She wanted the whole battle to never have happened, and her wicked archenemy to have never been defeated, because the victory had come at the cost of someone as dear to her as the entire world. His death had interrupted the powerful flow of love that she was accustomed to giving out and receiving, and she suffered from it deeply. She had wanted to be left alone after Mamoru's ultimate demise and search for a reason to keep fighting and protecting her people. She longed for some sort of guidance or intuition that could give her the courage to continue doing the right thing, even after the heavy blow to her heart, but she could find nothing but sorrow and confusion no matter where she searched inside herself.

And most perplexing of all was what this sudden turn of events meant for her. Was fate stringing her along this path for a reason? Or did its newly designated course have yet to reveal another twist, resulting in more heartbreak for her?

She didn't know. It occurred to her that perhaps it was better if she never knew the path her fate would take her. She wondered what had caused the change in the sequence of events she had been shown, but found that she did not want to really know. As long as Chaos thrived somewhere out in the far recesses of the universe, nothing could be certain, and she did not want to lose her head and foolishly believe in any idea of what the future would hold ever again. All she had was her present life, and she resolved to discover the right direction for herself. After all, experience had taught her that there existed powers that controlled Fate itself.

--

I put in a few (well, actually, a lot) of outlooks on life and the characters' personalities in this one, and some of them are rather subtle and symbolic (I'm really kind of surprised that I pulled that off; I usually hate it when there's something hidden but implied in texts that I have to analyze in English class XD). And I do realize that I completely neglected the other part of the storyline, the one with the Senshis' battles with the Akayashi sisters. However, I thought this would be an appropriate ending and I wasn't sure how I'd fit them into the whole scheme of this chapter, so I'll have to update on them in the next chapter, since they're going to be important for the plot later on.

Also, I wanted Usagi and Demando's ability to feel and care for each other to start out limited, in a sort of impasse, because of the positions they were in before meeting each other. It takes time to form bonds, and I wanted their reactions to their situations to be as realistic as possible, since Usagi's mentally wounded by Mamoru's death and Demando is getting his feelings for her sorted out. Sorry if it seems to be going along a little slowly, but I don't want to rush their relationship and cheapen its value by doing so.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, so I sort of messed up the order of everything by putting this up. And most likely it won't be as satisfying for you as seeing a chapter 7. I wrote this originally as chapter 4, and then decided it would be better to introduce the ballroom scene first. But now, looking back, there's just no conceivable way of sticking this scene in anytime _after_ chapter 6, and I feel it would be an awful waste of both my time and yours if I spent all that time writing it, when I could have been focusing on other chapters, and nobody even got to read it. Besides, it does develop their relationship a little more right before the dance, and hopefully makes for an interesting read. So here it is: a short little scene between Usagi and Demando, set the day _before_ the dance.

And for those of you who are just reading this story for the first time, kindly ignore this note.

--

_We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. –Anton Chekhov_

--

Two days had passed since Usagi had woken to find herself in Demando's gargantuan palace, and though she had explored nearly a hundred different rooms within the palace since then, she knew she was far from being familiar with even half of the rooms in the entire place. She had never before seen, much less been in, something of this size, and she was always wary of being lost in one of the dark and deserted hallways, and becoming trapped as if in a maze until someone like Safir, or one of Demando's servants, found her.

Nevertheless, she pressed on in her attempt to know the geography of the building well enough that she might be able to find an inconspicuous passage that could lead her to freedom one day, and know a perfectly innocent destination to pretend she was heading towards in the event that she was caught somewhere she shouldn't be. So she tirelessly wandered around the Crystal Palace, searching for ways she could use to get out.

As she approached a turn in the dimly-lit corridor, she immediately sensed that this was not a place she'd been before. But she had been in the castle walls long enough not to be frightened by the darkness, and only the sheer emptiness of this wing made her hesitate to go further. But she knew that as long as Demando was here, he would make certain of her safety, and so she went forward.

She walked along, almost gliding on the surface of the crystal floors. It was fascinating how silently you could walk on these translucent floors, she mused. Even if she ran, her steps would be soundless, muted by some mysterious property of this crystalline ground. She paused in front of an ominous-looking door that towered over her, its span more than twice her height.

With a reckless ease, she pulled one of the ornate gold door handles and was momentarily blinded by a searing light. Raising her hands to her face, she shut her eyes in pain. In the darkness of that fragment of time when she shut her eyes to the dazzling glow, she could almost feel a surge of strength flowing through her veins. She saw, as clearly as if it were reality, Mamoru's face looking directly at her with a sad smile, and he mouthed a single word to her before disintegrating into the shadows of her mind. She could not hear his voice, and was unable to discern what he had spoken, but for some reason did not despair over it. And then some internal reaction, perhaps an intuition, told her that the intensity of the light had faded, and she opened her eyes once again.

There was a huge silver basin positioned in the middle of the circular room, and a mysterious white light with seemingly no source permeated the entire room with its brilliance. Lying in the basin was Prince Demando himself, his eyes shut peacefully as his pale skin soaked in the pristine waters inside the basin. Usagi gave a loud gasp at the sight of his figure, then covered her mouth. She wanted to kick herself for being such a fool and giving away the fact that she had been slinking around abandoned places in hopes of escape, but it was too late now.

His eyes opened wide, and their piercing violet color looked almost white in the light that shone down upon him. His white hair was tangled across his neck, and beads of purest liquid slid down his upper body and returned to the glistening substance he was partially submerged in. It was so beautiful, Usagi thought, this image of the white prince sitting in a silver basin, drenched in strange waters beneath the rays of the brightest of all lights. It looked like a painting in a storybook, and the air of pure magic surrounding her drew her in. Usagi was vaguely disconcerted by the fact that, as he rose to sit up in the basin, his smooth chest was bare in front of her. But still she stared intently, as if wondering at a dreamlike reality, for what seemed like an eternity before she finally realized with a sudden shame that tinted her cheeks with rouge, that she had been staring at Demando's half-naked body. She quickly turned away, looking down at the floor.

"I… I'm sorry," Usagi said, offering him the only words that she could.

Demando studied her expression before replying simply, "How did you find this room?" He did not sound angry, but his tone was chillingly placid.

"I'm not sure how, exactly," Usagi said honestly. "I was looking around the palace, and I came upon this room by chance."

Demando looked at her thoughtfully. "I see," he said quietly. "You were trying to find a way to escape, weren't you?"

Usagi gulped, unable to face him as she spoke. "Yes." Her voice came out sounding cracked, but she had managed to tell him the truth, and whatever consequences she had to pay for this admittance, she would accept.

"You really don't want to stay here." It came out as a statement. Usagi hung her head down, unable to respond. She did not want to tell a truth that would hurt someone, even someone as despicable as Demando, and so she said nothing. "Is it because you hate me?"

Usagi looked up in surprise at the question, and after seeing the wretched look on his thin face, spoke from her heart. "I don't hate you, Demando. My unwillingness to stay here has nothing to do with my personal like or dislike towards you. I can't stay in a place like this, trapped without the people that I love around me, never free to see the outside world. To exist in such a state… is not a life at all. For someone like me, living this way is unbearable, and it's in my nature to always long to return home and see my friends."

Hating Demando himself was never a thought that ran in her mind in those times when she wanted the most to leave and to stop living in such a miserable manner. It was that she detested knowing that no matter what she did within the palace walls, she was never free. She would always be bound by invisible chains, the manifestation of Demando's iron will, that severed her connection with the outside world and humanity. And after Mamoru's death, something that could have been prevented if she had only gotten there faster and destroyed her enemy before Mamoru could get involved, she wanted never to feel trapped in her surroundings again. If Fate could be changed, then perhaps she could determine her own fate. But her inability to get away from Demando's palace gave her a feeling of restlessness, a sense of failure that only deepened her sadness at Mamoru's death.

Demando smiled sadly at her words. So it was true, after all. He was slowly destroying her, and he could see that it was truly agonizing for her to stay in his palace. But it could not be helped. In one week, the Dark Crystal's negative energy would be completely harvested, and his plan would finally come to fruition. Until then, he had to keep her with him.

"Come here," Demando beckoned to her. "I suppose I would have to tell you about this room eventually." Usagi did not pick up on the implication of his words, but chose to listen out of curiosity.

Somewhat hesitantly, Usagi walked towards the center of the room. He took her hand in the palm of his, and gently deposited it below the surface of the water. Immediately, Usagi felt a strange force streaming through her body, and her anxieties seemed to dissipate as her arm penetrated the depths of this mysterious water. Her heart felt as if it were healing, and the sunken feeling in her chest that had remained inside of her since Mamoru's death evanesced as the droplets were absorbed into her skin. Her dark depression lifted, and she had a strange sense of nostalgia. This lightheartedness… she felt like herself again, she realized.

"What is this?" She asked in amazement, abandoning her suspicion. "This isn't normal bathing water."

"No, it isn't," Demando said. "The liquid in this basin is very rare even on our home planet of Nemesis, and it comes out of a small tributary flowing from our planet's only river. It's the one thing that exists on our planet that exceeds the beauty of Earth's nature. Its power seems to be the ability to halt all the mental and emotional turmoil that goes on in our minds, and giving those who bathe in it a refreshing internal strength to help them overcome the pain of any situation. I am the only one who is permitted to use this water, since it has forever been reserved only for those descended from the line of kings."

He paused, then looked at her outstretched hands reaching into the water. "But I'm willing to share it with you, if you'd like."

Usagi suddenly felt a vivid warmth, a small stirring of emotion inside her, that she had not experienced since Mamoru's death rising up within her. She knew, just from the way he made that simple statement, how much it meant that he was giving her something that was entitled only to him. She nodded wispily, giving him a pretty smile that conveyed her gratitude.

"Thank you, Prince Demando. It means a lot to me that you would share the secrets of your planet with me, and offer something to me that rightfully belongs only to you." She looked at him kindly, extending friendship to him through her scintillant cerulean eyes. "I know I was rude to you from the day we met, and I hope you can understand why I was so angry at you for taking me away from my home by force. But I realize that I've misjudged you, and maybe we can start over without any resentment towards each other."

"Yes," Demando said, unable to help smiling a little in the face of such sweet forgiveness. "I hope so, if our circumstances would allow us."

"Our circumstances aren't what's important," Usagi said, looking into the immobile liquid of the basin and somehow knowing her words to be true. "I don't believe that there's anything in this universe that is fixed or decided without the possibility of being changed. My experience has taught me that."

A silence followed, and both of them felt at peace there, standing in the dazzling light, their reflections in the water perfectly still and calm.

It was strange, Usagi thought, how uncomfortable she'd been moments ago, when she had just snapped out of her trance of staring at Demando's upper body. She marveled at the comfort Demando provided when he was with her. He had taken her captive in his own palace, but not to hurt her or to force her to do anything. And if there was one thing she _knew_ at this moment, it was that he did care about her, if even simply because he had to. He had trapped her with him against her will, but he had also given her the solace, the warmth and human comfort that she needed now in the wake of Mamoru's death. And that was enough to pull her through the darkness of solitude, bringing her some small measure of happiness.

When she finally left him in that chamber, returning to her own room, she could _sense_ a sound that breached her entire soul. It seemed to come from some presence embedded within her heart, and a voice that she would never forget uttered, passionately and distinctly, the lone word she had been unable to hear when she had first opened those golden doors. _Farewell_.

--

Yes, it was really short. But this was incomplete when I reread it, so I added a little more to it and called it chapter XD Anyway, even though it's more of an old chapter than a new chapter, I sincerely hope you all enjoyed it.


	5. Chapter 5

Ah, this is probably the longest I've taken to write up a new chapter, but I've sort of been writing about an idea for chapter 4, but then I decided it would be better to leave it for a later chapter. So the fact that I spent a lot of time working on something else will probably save me some time writing chapter 5 or 6, but it took a while for me to get this one figured out. Sorry about that.

--

_"How vast was a human being's capacity for suffering. The only thing you could do was stand in awe of it. It wasn't a question of survival at all. It was the fullness of it, how much could you hold, how much could you care." –Janet Fitch_

--

The Sailor Senshi had nearly all collapsed on the ground, severely weakened by the long battle. The four creatures that they were facing seemed to be equal to them in strength, matching their attacks blow for blow. In the end, the monsters they had been fighting escaped, vanishing as quickly as they had come. By the time the fight had ended, the police and ambulance of Tokyo had arrived. The damage done was great, but the senshi were certain that it was minimal in comparison to the damage the strange alien-like women could have done, had there been nothing to stop them. And they still didn't know the motive for the pointless violence, or from whence their mysterious foes had come.

All they knew was that the fighting was over for now, and that they would continue to fight. Whether it was the next day or weeks later, they would rise up to the challenge, because they were the only ones who could defend Earth from the terrifying assaults launched on their planet from evil forces beyond.

Rei rose weakly, giving the other girls a thumbs-up. "We stopped them."

"You're right," Ami said, dusting the soot from her crisp blue uniform. "It's not over yet, but at least we drove back these new enemies. That's enough for now."

"I can't help thinking, though, that if Usagi had made it, we probably would have won," Minako said. "She has the most powerful and unique abilities of all of us, and it would have been five against four if she was here."

"I wonder why she didn't," Makoto said. "She doesn't live that far from here, and there's a fair chance that she would have heard the commotion out here."

"Maybe she did, but didn't feel up to fighting," Rei said, a little indignantly. "I wish she'd stop moping around so much these days and actually do stuff with us."

"Don't say such a thing, Rei," Ami said. "I'm sure that's not the case."

"Then why didn't she come help us fight?" Rei asked grudgingly. "They could have destroyed the whole city if we weren't there to stop them."

"Maybe she didn't know," Makoto shrugged, though she had a slightly worried expression on her face. "I don't believe Usagi's the type of person who would ever choose not help people in need, no matter what's happened to her. It's got to be something else."

"I think we should tell her, though," Minako said. "If those monsters ever come back again, we're going to need Usagi's help."

"Right," Ami said. "It's definitely important that she knows. We should never keep secrets from each other, or our strength as a team will crumble."

"Mhm. Let's go," Makoto said, getting up and walking in the direction of Usagi's house. The other senshi walked along with her, strutting side by side on their tired feet.

--

Usagi sat up on the edge of the bed, about to get up. When she touched the floor with the tip of her foot, an eerie echo rose and reverberated across the silvery walls. The sound sent a shiver down Usagi's spine, and she quickly proceeded to slip both feet into the shoes that had been left for her by someone, two golden sandals.

There was something about this room that was other-worldly, and even the objects that would be typical in any other bedroom carried an atmosphere of mystery when looked at. For one thing, there was a diamond chandelier suspended from the center of the ceiling, but the light it gave off was only a dim bluish hue, not nearly bright enough for her to actually do anything when broad daylight was not seeping in through the wide sliding windows. A mirror faced her bed in perfect alignment, making her strangely uncomfortable. She could not avoid her reflection unless she focused single-mindedly to _not _look at the mirror, which was a difficult task considering that it was right in front of her eyes. And each time she did look, all she could see was the face of a forlorn little girl who looked limp, devoid of all energy and the spirit of life. It reminded her of her sorrow, and of the hopelessness of her situation.

The doors opened abruptly, and Usagi nearly fell off the bed from surprise. She looked up to see an elegant lady with bright green hair and sharp eyes step into the room, glaring at her coldly. Unsure of what to do, Usagi said uncertainly, "Hello?"

"Don't bother with formalities," Esmeraude said, looking in disdain at the figure of the young girl. This disgusting little… _human_ was incredibly beautiful, as she'd feared, if a little unhappy-looking. In her frustration, her lips gave way to a snarl as she spat, "Get up, you fool!"

Her rudeness was disarming, to say the least. Safir had been very calm and considerate when he came in, and so it was surprising to see such hatred etched on the face of someone who barely knew her. Usagi chose to ignore this woman's obvious hatred for her, however, and simply said, "Is there something you want me to do?" Her voice was strained, as she did not feel capable of dealing with any new situation.

"_Me_? Want _you _to do something? You naïve girl, if it were my choice I would get rid of you on the spot," Esmeraude said condescendingly. "It's only because Prince Demando supposedly needs you to carry out his mission of avenging Nemesis that I have to put up with such an irritating earthling. Don't think so highly of yourself, as if you have a place in everyone's life."

"Then why are you here?" Usagi said, struggling to stay patient while enduring the woman's continuous verbal assaults. "If you don't care about me at all yourself, then surely you were sent by someone else to tell me something."

Esmeraude wanted to smack the girl in the face. Her apparent inability to be provoked by Esmeraude's taunts was infuriating, and unfortunately she was right. Esmeraude's face showed increasing amounts of agitation as she announced the message she came to deliver in a pugnacious tone, "Prince Demando wishes for you to attend a little fete in this palace's ballroom, starting in about half an hour. It's for the celebration of the day on which the banished survivors of the Black Moon Clan reached Nemesis. I suppose he wants you to know a little about Nemesis's traditions or something, since you're here."

"I see," Usagi said, thinking aloud. "I guess it couldn't hurt."

"It _will_ hurt if you decide not to show up," Esmeraude said threateningly. "I'll make sure of that. You'd better not make me seem like an idiot in front of Prince Demando by not going after _I _delivered his message."

"I'll go," Usagi sighed wearily. "There's really nothing else I can do."

Esmeraude turned her nose up snobbishly, waving Usagi's words off with a fluffy pink fan. "I expect I'll see you there, then, though I won't be looking forward to it."

"Mhm," Usagi mumbled. Esmeraude walked out with her chin lifted so high that it was almost laughable. Usagi bit her lip, and with all her self-control she kept herself from saying anything mean to the unpleasant woman, confining herself to letting out a nonchalant, "See you later."

As the doors slammed behind her, sending out a shatteringly intense amount of noise that slowly dwindled down into multiple echoes, Usagi rose from her bed quietly and forced herself to look into the mirror. She looked like a pale imitation of her former self, she thought unhappily. The same features still decorated her face, but there was a _lack_ in it that was all too apparent to her. Something was amiss in the coloring of her face, in the depth of her eyes. She did not understand it, but she knew that she had lost something that had been important within her. Her eyes appeared lackluster and empty, reflecting none of the brightness that had shone in them before Mamoru's death, and little dark spots beneath her eyes were clearly visible. No sprinkle of pink touched her cheeks; the only color across her wan face was a pale grayish skin color that looked unhealthily shut out from sunlight. Even the two blonde spheres on each side of her head had collapsed in their formation, perhaps crushed in her sleep, and a few strands stuck out erratically.

Usagi could bear to look at herself no longer. In the ghastly light that slowly tinged the sky right before dawn, she looked like a sort of terrible specter, clad in a white dress that seemed to glow as it reflected the dim light outside. She turned her head away from the mirror, refusing to acknowledge the disgusting thing she had become over the course of several days.

In this state, how would she attend any kind of celebration? Even if she knew nothing about the customs of Nemesis and its people, she had to at least look presentable and respectful, not like a living zombie. She had already promised that green-haired woman that she would go, and she wasn't about to back down like a complete coward, especially in the face of such scorn. She noticed a small drawer at one of the bedposts, and looked inside. If Demando had provided for her clothing and shoes, then maybe there would be something in there that could help her look somewhat decent.

A beautiful comb, decorated with floral designs and a bright ruby gem placed in its center, was the first thing that grabbed her eye. Taking it out in relief, she immediately undid her usual 'meatball head' hairstyle and combed her hair thoroughly. Her silky blond locks swept down across her back, waving slightly at the ends.

_Maybe I'll just go like this, without putting up the buns_, she thought. _They're a lot of trouble to do, and I don't feel right doing it here, with such an empty feeling in the air. Besides, I don't want to look at my reflection any more at all. I'm such a pitiful sight that I might be temped to just stay here for the duration of the celebration after seeing myself again._

Two earrings with small pearls cascading down from them lay in the drawer, and she decided they would be fitting for the occasion. She put them on and then stood up. It was about time for her to go, and she didn't even know where the ballroom was. The lady had probably conveniently forgotten to give her directions, she thought, fuming.

She walked out from her room for the first time, and felt a light breeze in the halls. It almost felt nice to be out here, and not cooped up in one place for hours at a time. She smiled almost unnoticeably to herself, and headed right. Since she didn't know where she was going, she figured that she would have to just look around until she found the place. Fortunately for her, the sound of laughter and music could be heard as she continued to walk, and finally she stopped at the door that she was certain had to hold the ballroom inside its borders.

Opening it a little awkwardly, she peeked in. This was definitely it. She spotted Safir drinking something that was probably alcoholic, looking directly at the figure of Esmeraude, who was laughing with a group of other people. Other people, nobles whom she didn't recognize, as well as a few people whose attire revealed their servility, were all either eating at the huge dining table, or talking on the dance floor. It was a nice scene, she observed somewhat detachedly.

"Usagi." A deep voice behind her made Usagi jump. "I never would have thought I'd see you here, slinking around like this."

"Demando!" Usagi exclaimed. In her surprise at seeing him, she momentarily abandoned her guard against him and simply asked, out of curiosity, "How come you weren't in the ballroom before I got here?"

"Usually I allow the revelers to come in and enjoy themselves before I make my speech," Demando said carelessly. "And then the ceremony calls for a dance of sorts, and the King and his sons must lead. Since I am to become king in a year's time, and my father is dead, it is my duty to be in charge of all affairs during this annual celebration at the Royal Palace. But I like to come as late as I possibly can, because it's rather irritating to watch the nobles of Nemesis get drunk and dance. And I have the misfortune of having to dance with Esmeraude every year."

"Esmeraude?" Usagi asked, continuing to peek through the door thoughtfully. The name seemed to associate itself, of its own accord, to that woman with the green hair. "Is that…?"

"You see that woman standing over there, laughing?" Demando said, shaking his head. "Her name is Esmeraude, and she's from a different branch of the royal family, so naturally she was named after the most luminous green gem of our kingdom. But her personality is, quite frankly, annoying."

"I see," Usagi said, making no further comment. "What about Safir? Doesn't he have to lead, too?"

"Yes," Demando said, sighing. "He used to pair with Petz, before they split up in an untimely way this year. But even if he wanted to ask Petz to accompany him again this year, she won't be here for this event, so I'm not sure what he'll do."

He suddenly realized his mistake, and caught it as Usagi turned around to look at him. "Petz and her sisters have decided not to come on our mission to Earth," he said smoothly as Usagi looked at him questioningly. "They're too occupied with projects on Nemesis."

"Oh," Usagi said. "That makes sense. Poor Safir, though. Somehow, I get the feeling that he's really torn up about how Esmeraude's been ignoring him."

Demando half-smiled in amusement. "You're a very interesting person, Usagi."

"Why?" Usagi inquired quietly. She turned to face him, and met his piercing violet eyes with probing cerulean ones.

Demando looked at her longingly for a few moments before responding, "You seem to understand things about people so well, after you've just met them. It's something that we people of Nemesis cannot fathom about humans; you have such a capacity for emotion, and perceive those of others so accurately. If Safir had not told me of his feelings and misgivings about falling in love with Esmeraude himself, perhaps I would never have realized that he fell for her after breaking away from Petz."

In genuine puzzlement, Usagi asked, "But why are the people of Nemesis different from the people of Earth? Weren't we all the same once, before certain members of Earth were banished to Nemesis? Why _should _there be a difference in the way we feel, in our ability to connect with each other?"

"You forget, Usagi, that we are the descendants of criminals," Demando said, his eyes hardening. "Though we ourselves have done no wrong to Earth, we are still trapped on one tiny planet on the far side of the galaxy, unable to experience a true, full life like yours. And the formation of our society on Nemesis was founded on bitterness and hatred. For centuries, we were taught to despise Earth, to one day find a way to destroy the planet that sent us to this cold, harsh imitation of living. When hatred and anger are the only things around you, you cannot understand the other side of humanity. Perhaps we have inherited an ability to love from our ancestors, but not the mentality that enables us to use it. The Clan of the Black Moon was shrouded in darkness from its birth, and each generation grows farther from the light. Hating your people, and our existence itself, is the only way we've ever known." His face suddenly softened, and he had a troubled look in his eyes.

It was the most tragic story Usagi had ever heard, and she sensed that it was the truth. The way Demando spoke those words moved Usagi deeply, and she found herself wanting to help him, to do something that could show him and his people the true qualities that made them human. She was overcome by an immense feeling of sorrow and pity for Demando and his banished clan, and it was enough to send her on the verge of tears.

"I never knew that it was like that," Usagi said, her voice shaking. "What we've done to your people is completely wrong. Just because you came from a line of criminals doesn't mean that you don't deserve the chance to prove yourselves superior to being a race of evildoers. It's not fair that you should be condemned for crimes you didn't commit. And if I had any part in this decision, it was only because I didn't know what it would cause, and I'm sorry that I couldn't do anything to stop this from happening." She looked clearly disturbed by the actions of her own people in forcing an entire civilization to live a degraded life without human kindness.

Demando looked at her silently, struck by how much she cared. He had captured her against her will, and now she was burdening herself with the misfortunes of his clan. She possessed everything anyone could want—beauty, strength, the future title of Queen of the entire earth—and yet she had such consideration and compassion for one small clan because she believed it was wrong that they were incapable of love. Though she was undergoing her own struggle with the hardships of life, she had the capacity to feel for the pain of others. Her ability to care so much for something that gave her no personal benefit was something Demando had never imagined was possible.

His heartbeat seemed to speed up tenfold as he saw her in her full light, and was astounded by her true beauty. Without stopping to think about it, he stepped up to her and asked, as courteously as he could, "Usagi, would you do me the honor of being my partner?"

Usagi looked up calmly, meeting his gaze. She said in a light, carefree manner, "Okay." Something inside of her assured her that this was the right thing to do, and it didn't feel as if she were doing something that she shouldn't be doing in the aftermath of Mamoru's death. She wanted, she realized, to be happy again, to be truly alive as she was before, and she held the conviction that it was what Mamoru would want for her as well. Some internal guidance gave her a feeling of peace as she walked into the royal ballroom with Demando, matching his graceful strides with her own.

--

Another fairly long chapter. It took me a while to get the right idea in my head about how to handle this situation, and I actually sort of wrote it in halves. I wrote the first half, then couldn't think of any ideas, and then I started writing the second half and it just flowed. I think what I'll do is continue this scene in the next chapter, and I'll include a little drama over the fact that Demando sort of, er… switched his predetermined dance partner.

I'll also say, to avoid confusion, that this is sort of what I consider should be the first step to Demando and Usagi's eventual falling in love- for now, the negative feelings between them have been cast aside because of their understanding of each other. The whole 'becoming dance partners' is rather platonic on Usagi's part; she simply wants to enjoy herself for the first time after Mamoru's death.

Anyway, I hope this was an enjoyable and satisfying chapter for all of you, and thank you for continuing to read and review my story!


	6. Chapter 6

Edit: Wow, I can't believe I forgot to mention this before submitting the chapter, but thank you so much to those who voted for my story in Otaku Online Stop's Best Fanfiction Contest! I was really, really happy when I found out that I won in the Best Newcomer Category. And special thanks to Erte Girl for even nominating me in the first place! I never expected to win anything for writing this story, but it makes me feel great that I did =)

And thank you all for your reviews. They've helped me enormously in analyzing my own writing and deciding how I should go with the story, and I just really appreciate knowing that people like my writing enough to constructively comment on things like plot, pacing, and simply whether the story is decent and interesting overall. Just wanted to put that out there. Enjoy!

--

"_If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."- Sun Tzu_

--

Demando and Usagi stood against the marble walls of the ballroom, their forms close but not touching. Their location along the wall was rather obscure, and they were largely unnoticed by the huge gathering of people, who were preoccupied with food and conversation. Unable to throw themselves into the cheeriness and energy of the event, they simply watched the convivial group from the sides.

The music floating through the air was full of dark simplicity, and a lone girl, clad in a dazzlingly gilded dress, released the melody from a rusty flute as she stood in an empty corner of the room. Her gray eyes were focused completely on the small instrument, and she seemed to be incapable of making any mistakes as her fingers moved with amazing fluidity across the flute. In bewilderment at the sight, Usagi turned to Demando with wonder in her eyes. "Why is that girl over there the only one playing music?"

Demando traced her gaze to the young girl in solitary concentration, as if she were standing on her own stage, and told Usagi, "Her name is Pyrite. She is probably the oldest of all of us who have gathered in this room, and her confinement to playing that ancient flute is her punishment for rebelling against the seventh king of Nemesis. There was a spell put on it, I suppose, that forced her to play this bittersweet music you hear now for the rest of her long life. Though her attire is beautiful, and her appearance youthful, she is the most deceptive of all our people, and now no one dares to approach her for fear of her manipulation. When she was at the height of her powers, she gained incredible power through using other people, and her mastery of the Dark Crystal was said to have been unmatched. So the seventh king of Nemesis died fighting her, sealing her into this little girl's body. Beneath that shimmering gown and innocent face lies the heart of a cruel old woman full of pure malice, though she can no longer do harm unless someone breaks that spell."

Usagi shuddered noticeably, glancing at Pyrite again. "To think that there could be evil hidden beneath such a gentle-looking face," she murmured. "It seems like I've never really known anything about pain or darkness until Mamoru died, and you took me here. I know so much now that I never knew before, but I almost wish that I never learned any of this."

"Almost?" Demando's raised his brows curiously, observing the look in Usagi's eyes. "Why do you say it like that? If I were asked whether I could choose whether to know pain or to be left in foolish innocence, there would be no doubt. I would wish never to know anything, if it meant that I could always be happy."

Usagi turned her face towards his and looked him straight in the eyes, understanding that the underlying reason for his hypothetical choice was his long experience with pain and despair. It moved her in a sad but extraordinarily powerful way, that he would admit to choosing the one thing he had never been able to experience; that he would rather be a naïve, optimistic little boy than the torn up, hardened man he was today. "Because if I didn't know, I wouldn't have understood what I was truly fighting against, and what I want to remove from this universe. And that's almost as bad as not knowing what I've been fighting for."

Demando looked away, his face falling as he thought about her words. He was afraid to ask her the question that suddenly blazed through his mind, its repulsive answer burning through him like an inferno searing through everything in existence, and he had only just discovered that he was the one who sparked the first flame. "What if you don't know what you're fighting for, and only what you're fighting against?"

Usagi's deep blue eyes seemed to lower at his question. She recognized, from the honest desire to understand he revealed in his tone of voice, that this was the reality that Demando was facing at this moment. And it was important that she answered in the right way. So she considered her response thoroughly, searching the convictions of her own heart, before finally replying softly:

"When you know what you're fighting for, it can give you unimaginable strength. The knowledge that you are fighting for a worthy purpose is the support, the foundation on which you stand. And when there is someone who knows with absolute certainty and purity of heart that they will fight for a cause because it's the right thing to do, there is no stopping that person. But I think that the importance of knowing what you're fighting against is necessary, as well. If you don't truly understand your enemy, then no matter how strong you are, they are able to utilize things that you can't comprehend against you.

"But if you only know what you're fighting against, and have nothing to fight for, then the balance is unstable. There is power in your grasp, but you have no _reason _for using it. And without motivation, without a driving force that pushes you forward, there is no future after you have fulfilled that single mission of vanquishing your adversaries. You may well defeat that enemy, but you topple yourself in the process. The fall of your foe is your own downfall when the only thing that sustains you is your desire to destroy that enemy."

The sheer power and clarity of this girl's perception astounded Demando. He could picture exactly what she meant, and in a moment of epiphany-like shock, he saw the future of Nemesis, unfolding in steps, after he launched an attack of Earth. A vision of himself as the catalyst of widespread devastation and death flashed in his mind, and he suddenly saw the utter futility of these actions. Nothing would truly change. A planet would be destroyed, and then the people of Nemesis would invade that newly overtaken territory, but the land would be just as lifeless and vacant as Nemesis itself. The people themselves would remain bitter and wicked, because in their blind rage they had eliminated the only race of people who could show them love.

"Why did I never think about it that way?" Demando asked out loud, as if he were speaking for his own sake. His shaded mauve eyes, arched downward as he finally faced Usagi, reflected his mental agony as it occurred to him what he'd been working towards all along. "I've believed for so long that I could solve all the problems of Nemesis by destroying Earth. All I wanted was for our people to finally live to their full extent, to finally stop being restricted by this decree of Earth that sealed our wretched fate. Even I, the pampered prince of Nemesis, could see that our people could never be truly happy, so long as they remained virtually prisoners on their own planet. How could they be happy on a planet where the skies are pitch-black at night, and charcoal-gray during the day; living in a place where the free-falling rain is tainted with dirt, and even the dullest flowers are seldom come across in a long voyage? It was natural for us to want to take over Earth, because we always believed it was our birthright to live there. And yet we became so muddled in our own anger and notions of revenge that we forgot what we really wanted- to just be human, and enjoy the things that make life worth living."

A smile broke across Usagi's previously pale, worn face as she listened to what felt to her like an entirely different side of Demando. There was something about hearing him speak like this that gave her a strange hope. Unable to contain an impulsive feeling of blinding elation, she reached forward and crushed him with a quick, extemporaneous embrace. She was happy at this very moment, and even she could not understand why. All she knew was that at this moment, this was the only thing that felt right.

Demando gaped at her as she wrapped her arms around him without warning, and he appeared uncomfortable at first. No one had _ever_ held him in such a way, and the swift breach of distance between him and Usagi stunned him. His cool hardness, his constant distance and separation from others, was his defining quality. And yet it was so utterly _easy_ for this girl to penetrate the boundaries he had set up, those limitations that had never been transgressed by any other being for so many years of his life. This knowledge disconcerted him greatly, though he did not let on, and he simply withdrew to himself.

He felt light and airy, as if the slightest breeze could sweep him away. Though he had removed himself from her, there was a faint desire that flickered in his heart, urging him to return that strange, sweet gesture of emotion. He set it aside, however, and regained his calm. That sudden loss of his senses, of rationality and control, had stirred something in him that he was afraid to allow to resurface again. He had felt incredibly warm, he realized, when she embraced him in that way. But he was afraid of what it meant. Nothing had ever caused him to lose control before.

"Sorry," Usagi said tentatively after he pulled away, sensing his intense discomfort. Her face was flushed as she looked away. Her actions had surprised herself, and now, after the initial shock of overwhelming happiness had worn off, she felt only shame at her lack of control. "I've upset you, haven't I?"

"No," Demando said, almost forcefully. "It's not you."

"I didn't mean to do anything that would make you feel uncomfortable. I… I just forgot myself, I guess. It won't happen again, I promise," Usagi stuttered, her face bright red by now.

_What was I thinking when I did that? I obviously _wasn't_, or how could I have been caught so off guard? It was just… what he said… he sounded so different, so… kind and humane, even approachable, _Usagi thought miserably. _But that's still no excuse for completely forgetting your manners. You can't just hug him like that; he's the prince!_

She shifted uncomfortably before finally meeting Demando's eye. There was a look of disappointment in those violet irises… or was that her imagination? He turned his face away abruptly, before finally saying, "It's not your fault. I'm the one who's made you feel uncomfortable. If I were just more…" He cut himself off. Usagi looked on in concern as he slowly shut his face from her. "Let's not talk about this anymore. It's about time we join the others."

"Right." Usagi was relieved by the change of topic, and walked out into the light with him.

No sooner had they gotten to dining table than Esmeraude, who was walking in that direction, had slid up to them. Her narrowed viridian eyes betrayed her irritation at seeing them together. "Hello, Prince Demando. I'd like to know why you're tolerating having that girl stick around you at one of your most important royal events. It's _so_ kind of you, of course, but I think it would be best if you don't get this little worm's hopes up. She might even expect a dance from you, and that would become absolutely horrendous."

Usagi reddened, at a loss for what to say. Normally she would have been exceedingly angry, but she could not bring herself to raise a hand against Esmeraude. There was something broiling inside of her, and it felt uncannily like guilt. Demando had _told _her that he and Esmeraude were partners year after year, and she had completely ignored the implications of his words.

"Esmeraude," Demando said heatedly, "What makes you think you have the right to interfere with my decisions?"

"Excuse me?" Esmeraude blinked disbelievingly. "What do you mean, Prince Demando? You've danced with me every year! It's practically tradition by now, that you and I lead the stage."

"Only because I had no choice," Demando said, cold anger in his violet eyes. "I was following my duties, and my father arranged for me to dance with you, since your family was the nearest thing to royalty he could find. If it weren't for that, I would never have tolerated your egotistical attitude for so long."

"How could you say that, my Prince? You can't mean it!" Esmeraude looked stricken as she stood there, her mouth wide open. "I- I thought-"

"Stop being such a hypocrite, Esmeraude," Demando said, silencing her with a glare. "You come here telling me not to let Usagi get her hopes up, after you've been making yourself believe your own vain dreams all this time? That's ridiculous."

Esmeraude began to shake, her firsts clenched with extreme force. Her gaze dropped to the floor, and then she slowly looked up at Usagi. The girl was so composed, so serenely pretty, that Esmeraude wanted to strangle her with her bare hands at this second. She hissed angrily at Usagi, though with surprising control, "I'll pay you back a hundred times for this humiliation. That's a promise. You think you can come in here and change everything, with the Silver Crystal and that sweet-looking face of yours, even though you don't belong here and you never will. Maybe Prince Demando is too blind to see through you, but _I_ will never let your innocent act fool me. You'll get what you deserve, and don't be surprised if I'm the one delivering it to you." She walked away, tossing her hair violently behind her as she left them.

Usagi sighed unhappily as Esmeraude walked off, sucking in a deep breath. "It's because of me that you just had that argument."

"It would have happened eventually," Demando waved it off. "I'm just glad it was sooner rather than later. Really, I should thank you."

"But what about Esmeraude?" Usagi asked. "I don't think she's particularly in the mood for thanking me about that fight you two just had."

"Are you afraid she'll do something to you? Don't worry," Demando said, as reassuringly as he could. "She threatens people all the time. Besides, I won't let her do anything to you, on my honor. I _asked_ you to be my partner this year. It's not as if you forced me to dance with you in an attempt to make Esmeraude mad. She's the one who's only thinking of herself."

"It's not that," Usagi said insistently. "It's because… well, because I acted like an idiot. You already told me that you and Esmeraude were partners every year, and I didn't respect that. Instead, I went barging in to a tradition I knew nothing about, thinking that it would be okay because _I _wanted to, and…" She stopped abruptly, realizing what she had just said. Demando's eyes widened, and he looked as if he were about to speak.

"I mean, I just thought it would be nice to finally get out and do something like I used to," Usagi said quickly, inexplicably embarrassed. "I miss Mamoru so much, and I've spent over a week just pining for him, but it bothers me when I think of how he would never want me to be constantly upset about his death. And you're the first person I've really talked to since he died, so I didn't think about it when I agreed to accompany you and lead the dance for this occasion. I just thought, maybe it was all right if I tried to lift myself out of my confusion and sadness, and enjoy myself again. But I think there's something wrong with me now, after all these days I've spent wallowing in my selfish sorrow. I couldn't even see that my interference would cause trouble between you and Esmeraude, and ruin this entire ceremony. And not only that, but everyone else will be making speculations and accusations about this switch, too, and that'll cause trouble for you."

She could not bring herself to look into Demando's eyes while speaking, and her voice trembled slightly from the emotional turmoil that she felt, yet could not comprehend. Thinking of Mamoru still brought her tremendous pain, though it was not quite as fresh nor deep-cutting as it had been before. She was frustrated with herself for being unable to get her emotions sorted out, even now, and somehow could not face Demando in his strange, sturdy protectiveness of her.

"I can quell any ridiculous gossip about us," Demando said, a hint of anger rising in his voice, though it was not directed at her. "It doesn't matter to me, Usagi. If those foolish, drunken nobles want to say anything, they can. And you need to understand that there was never anything between me and Esmeraude. What you've done is completely inconsequential as far as that one-sided partnership was concerned; she'd learn one day that I never loved her, regardless of whether I became partners with you today or not."

"I know," Usagi murmured, looking out through the single stained-glass window that arched across the top of the northern wall. She could not discern clouds, nor any hint of nature's perpetual monuments- only the dull light of a dawn that progressed far too slowly, unable to fully smother the darkness. "I understand that now."

What she was _really_ worried about, it occurred to her as she looked at the caliginous sky, was less that Esmeraude had met with the disappointment she would have had to feel at some point than the fact that Esmeraude had accused, and _acknowledged_ Demando and Usagi as if they were a couple. Despite her knowledge that they weren't, she felt as if she had somehow unintentionally traversed into forbidden land, that there was something ahead of her too vast for her to grasp within her mind. She had already taken the first step in, and there was no heading back- she had descended into the unfamiliar territory of Demando's palace, and in accepting the role of the prince's partner_,_ she had involuntarily immersed herself in something completely new to her, and left behind part of her old life. Whether she wanted it or not, _she _had made a trade, too. Even with her assurance that Mamoru would be glad for her no matter what she did, as long as it meant she would live happily, she herself was not comfortable with the way she was going. It was not Mamoru's resistance she felt pulling at her, but her own resistance, her own unwillingness to fall in love again. Because she knew, more strongly than anything else she could imagine, that that was the direction she was heading towards.

That unaccountable feeling of happiness she had felt when he had first said the words that showed he understood her and was shifting towards accepted her convictions as his own was a dead giveaway to the fact that she had started to open up to him far more than she'd intended to. She had started out hating him for trapping her in this place and restricting her freedom. And perhaps she would still hate him, if Mamoru were still alive.

But she had changed in the span of a few days. Now, after she had felt the pain of Mamoru's death like an immovable shard of glass suspended in the very core of her heart, she understood his suffering deeply, perhaps too much. She could see how the sadness could turn into anger, and anger into resentment, and finally, resentment into hatred. Though her connection to Mamoru and perception of his wishes for her after his death prevented her from falling through that abyss of eternal darkness, she understood that Prince Demando had never experienced love. He was slipping on the edge of that path, and there was no one to reach out and clasp his hand, pulling him back up. And because she could see that, it was in her nature to want to reach out to him, to give him love and kindness and compassion.

Only she was afraid. That she would forget about Mamoru. That Mamoru's death would lose its significance in her life. That she would begin to once again care too much for someone who would not be there for her forever. That she would someday feel another deluge of this unbearable agony, the heart wrenching sorrow that she felt now.

She resolved to close her heart off. She would dance with Prince Demando. But she would make it clear that she was simply carrying out a request. And she would try her best to help him and his people. But she would _not_ care for him in that way. She forced herself, unhappily, not to give her entire self out to him, like she had with Mamoru, like she always did when she was around her wonderful friends. For the first time, she would try _not _to be herself. The spontaneity and effervescent quality of her personality had already embarrassed her once today.

"Usagi." Demando's voice broke through her thoughts. She turned to face him, betraying no hint of emotion as she looked up at him. "I think we should go up there now. The speechmaker is about ready to close, and we need to be up there by the time he announces the beginning of the dancing ceremony."

She nodded, giving him her silent consent. He took her by the hand and walked through a door that led to the backroom of the stage. Demando informed her gently, "As soon as he's done recounting the history of Nemesis, we'll walk up that set of stairs over there. Are you all right with everything?"

"Yes," Usagi said calmly. "I'll be fine."

He smiled at her, and placed his hands lightly on her shoulders. "Thank you, Usagi. I don't regret choosing you as my partner."

"What makes you say that?" Usagi said lightly, slightly curious despite herself.

"Because right now, if you were Esmeraude, she'd be fussing over her hair and makeup right now, and begging me to hold her mascara while she put on her eyeliner, or lipstick, or something," Demando said, with a disdainful, yet somewhat amused quality, in his voice. "You're so… willing to just do what you need to do, and you don't seem to think about yourself at all when you're doing it."

"Thank you," Usagi said politely, keeping her voice perfectly steady as she spoke. As the speaker audibly began to wrap up his speech, Demando led her up the small set of stairs to the grand stage. His perfect poise as he walked was somewhat intimidating, Usagi thought. But she managed to keep up with the rhythmic beat of his steps, and she could feel the harmony of their figures as they walked together this way, hand in hand.

_Almost like with Mamoru,_ she thought. _They have the same stature, the same manner of movement, and they both carry themselves like kings. But the last time I danced with Mamoru, all I wanted to do was melt into his arms. I didn't think; I just felt the perfection of everything the way it was. Now, after his death, I can't seem to stop thinking and reflecting and just over-analyzing everything. _

She sighed quietly as she continued to walk alongside Demando. The stress of finding some way to deal with the heartbreak that had resulted from Mamoru's death seemed to always accompany her, no matter what method she tried to relieve herself of it, if only temporarily. That one time, when she heard Demando's admittance of his own mistakes, she had felt an abrupt release of all the unhappy feelings she had locked up inside of her. But now that she started to think again, to plan and anticipate, considering each action and the possible consequences, the weight of those emotions seemed to grow heavier and heavier. She was like a bird chained to a large stone; no matter how she tried to lift herself up and fly, she was forever bound to the bottom of the earth below her, through the overbearing summer and through the desolate winter.

--

Whew! I finally finished writing this chapter. I kept trying to decide where to end off, which is partly why it took so long to write it. I just wasn't satisfied with what I had (and I'm still not really satisfied, but I do feel like I've made everyone wait for too long). I suppose next chapter I'll finish where I left off, and include the other characters (as well as introducing a villain...), since I always seem to neglect them when I get really into writing about Usagi and Demando.

The original character does serve a purpose later on (I wouldn't say it's a minor role, exactly, but it doesn't really affect the main purpose of the story, either)… but I won't say what for now.

On another note, strange as it may seem, my commentary on the importance of understanding what you're fighting for as well as what you're fighting against, and the imbalance of one without the other, was actually partly inspired by… er… a certain character from Naruto. Shocking, isn't it? XD


	7. Chapter 7

**EDIT 3/12/09**: For those of you who have been reading my story this whole time, this is NOT the 'next' chapter. This is the original chapter 6. However, I have inserted a new chapter that takes the place of the previous chapter 4, so if you click on chapter 4 you can find it. It takes place before the ballroom. While it probably won't be as exciting for you as reading about what happens next (which I'm working on as much as possible, don't worry!), it does add something to the plot, and I thought it would have been a waste to toss it out.

Basically, _if you have been reading this story BEFORE _3/12/09, visit Chapter 4 to view the 'new' chapter that is technically 'old' if you look at it from a chronological viewpoint of the story, but has new content. _If this is your first time reading the story_, then please disregard my note. I was just trying to clear up confusion. Thanks.

So again: **GO TO CHAPTER 4 FOR THE NEW CONTENT.**

--

_One word__  
__Frees us of all the weight and pain of life:__  
__That word is love._

_-Sophocles_

--

The light was blinding. As soon as Usagi and Demando walked onto that towering stage, what seemed like a thousand radiant white beams shot out from above, taking Usagi by complete surprise. She cringed reflexively as the light source above her began to coruscate quickly, and raised an arm to fend off the glare.

"Sorry," Demando whispered apologetically in her ear. "I forgot the special effects that they put on at the beginning of the dance ceremony ever year. I've become accustomed to them by now, but I can see that your eyes are having a hard time adjusting."

"It's fine," Usagi replied nonchalantly, shutting her eyes intermittently as she struggled to see in the dazzling lighting. "It's not such a big problem."

"Here to begin the dance is our wonderful prince Demando, along with his lovely date, Esm…er… I mean…" The quaint man standing in front of them on the stage was suddenly at a loss for words as he looked back at the pair standing in the middle of the spotlight, and realized that the girl standing beside Demando was not, in fact, Esmeraude.

"Usagi Tsukino," Usagi supplied helpfully.

"And leading the stage for the ceremony is none other than Prince Demando, who will be escorting the beautiful Usagi Tsukino today," the man announced grandly, quickly recovering from his initial mistake. "The Symphony Maximus will now come out and commence playing their fine pieces."

The first noticeable change after this statement was the fact that Pyrite's beautiful, chilling flute music halted. A platform emerged from the floor, slowly rising up to form six levels of stands on the left side of the stage. Without warning, human figures dropped down and dangled from the ceiling, as openings appeared across what seemed like a solid plafond. Utterly bewildered, Usagi held Demando's hand a little tighter as the strange men lowered themselves, positioning themselves one by one on the granite surface of the stage. Each of them was wrapped in a long black robe, and their faces were widely expressionless. Objects that just barely resembled earthly instruments were in each of their hands as they stood solemnly, facing the crowd before them.

"Who are they?" Usagi whispered, half paralyzed by the peculiarity of their manner of arrival. "And what are they doing? Is this supposed to be happening?"

"That," Demando said, with a hint of slight pleasure on his chiseled face, "is the Symphony Maximus. An assembly of the greatest musicians on the planet, designated especially to accommodate any royal events where music is necessary."

"I see," Usagi said, nodding her head slightly as she looked over at the Symphony, and then at the expectant faces of the audience. Everything in Demando's royal palace was so… _different_, and so extravagant. The only word she could use to even remotely describe the overall feeling of this event was 'awe-inspiring'. She had never been outside of the bustling city of Tokyo, and such a fancy, high-class exposition was something she had not witnessed in her short lifetime.

An unheard signal seemed to alert the Symphony Maximus, prompting them to all begin at the exact same moment. A lively stream of music filled the entire room, mixing the high and low notes in perfect harmony. The song rendered by the Symphony was no less beautiful than the haunting melody that Pyrite had played, but its entire essence was one of pure exhilaration, rather than agonizing sorrow. Usagi's spirits lifted instantly just by listening to such strange, wonderful sounds around her.

Demando reached out to her, clasping her tender hand in his own. He pulled her out with him, walking gracefully to the head of the stage so that they standing were directly in front of the Symphony Maximus. "Will you be all right, dancing like this in front of everyone? I know you're probably not used to it."

"I am. I've done this before," Usagi stated simply, still holding back her emotions. "Not in such a grand setting, but I'm experienced enough with this type of dancing that I'll be all right."

"Okay," Demando said, his unwavering eyes directed at her face. There was a flicker of doubt in them that Usagi caught for a mere fraction of a second, and then they became as adamantly opaque as a wall of rock. "Then let's begin."

They started to dance rather unwillingly, and though it never quite became _awkward_, there was an uncertainty in their motion. There was a rare grace apparent in each of their individual movements, but a sense of unity, of a connection between the two, was lacking. Usagi felt strange at first, bathed in blinding light while Demando held her, one hand around her waist and one firmly on her own hand. Unsure of herself, she went along with the music as best she could, working to maintain her pace as she followed Demando's steps. He, too, moved with extreme care and punctiliousness, but there was a languid, sulking quality that seemed to seep into their motions, stemming from the discomfort between the two.

She looked up impulsively, to see Demando's stony, fixed violet eyes gazing steadily at her face as if at this moment she was the only thing in the entire world, and suddenly felt something in her melt. She lifted her bright cerulean eyes to his, and gave him a small, sweet smile before she had even thought about it. She had forged a connection between herself and her partner when she had peeked into his eyes, and she had seen something hidden within that barrier of rock. Something in the depths of his eyes, perhaps the softness that she could just barely sense when she looked into them, gave her an unmistakable feeling of certainty, of confidence in the moment.

She broke away from her self-restrictions and dispelled the pain of the conflicted feelings she harbored within herself, giving herself entirely into this small but exhilarating fragment of time. There was a sudden wind in their motion, a feeling of joy that rushed from the depths of her heart and escaped, enveloping herself and her partner. Her long locks of silky blond hair waved freely in the air, spinning across her entire frame as she moved. The velvety white gown formed a dazzling, flowing circle as it flew through the air, lightly grazing Demando's body. He felt the sudden strength and energy that seemed to be coming from somewhere within her.

The music started to crescendo, little by little, as the white prince and golden princess began to truly move _with_ each other, slowly at first, to the airy, gradually solidifying notes of song. The beat of the music was became neither slow nor fast, but full of subdued energy that seemed to match the movement of the two. The entire crowd stood in astonishment at the majestic way their lithe bodies flowed together. A perfect tranquility now ensued in the audience for the first time since the ceremony had began; every eye was fixed in admiration, and perhaps envy, of the pair that led the stage as if they had been born for this moment. If there were such a thing as heaven, it existed right above the surface of that elevated stage, where two forms of equal and unmatched beauty flitted gently around each other in rapturous oblivion of the world.

It was impossible, in such an environment of euphoria, for Usagi to keep up her cool guard against Demando. And though he was much more practiced in that aspect, even he could not look at her, listening to those strains of empyreal music, and turn away for the sake of maintaining his outward control. He had, for the first time, released his emotions into this simple yet beautiful act with Usagi.

Many of the nobles had begun dancing from their cue, though some simply observed the two onstage, awestruck by the difference in their Prince. He was far less cold and stiff than he had been each preceding year, and his movements seemed to flow flawlessly, as if streaming out from a source in his own heart. The look in his eyes as he gazed at his partner was one of caring, almost of kindness, they noted. The icy exterior, the intimidating and cold presence he had always exuded was slowly fading away, for he was locked in the arms of a girl whose warmth and light extended down to him, like the silvery-gold radiance of the moon in the darkest of nights.

--

"Safir! Why aren't you dancing?" Esmeraude appeared, a pout on her thin face. "You're supposed to be up there, leading the event with Prince Demando."

She always seemed to catch him unaware. Safir had been observing with keen interest the strikingly tender manner with which his brother danced with Usagi, and seeing their happiness, up on the distant stage, had somehow momentarily made him stop worrying about Esmeraude. It was like reading about happy endings in storybooks as a child, about the ideal payoff to all the hardship and labor; although he knew they were just stories, he had felt a certain sense of satisfaction at the end regardless. He could not resent his brother, who had been thrown into the burden of leadership from his youth, and had nearly never been given the opportunity to simply enjoy life. For he felt that, while Demando was the heir to the throne and the power of the entire kingdom, he was also the one who'd had to grow up prematurely, the one who was closed off from happiness because he had been forced to train himself into a hard, emotionless ruler throughout his malleable youth.

Now that Esmeraude was here, however, he felt his entire body tensing up as the misery of his own situation resurfaced. He looked vaguely at her feet and stated, as emotionlessly as he could, "I don't have a partner this year, so I told the announcer specifically not to mention my name. I'd rather be here, anyway, than in the center of attention."

"Ah, so you're all alone because there's nobody that wants you," Esmeraude said, almost gleefully.

"Why are _you _so pleased about that?" Safir demanded, refusing to continue allowing her to taunt him in such a way.

"Actually, I'm not really happy about it at all," Esmeraude said truthfully, shrugging. "I'm just glad I'm not the only rejected one. It would have been incredibly humiliating if I were dumped so publicly, and no one else in the entire place was left partner-less for the day."

"You're always so considerate of others," Safir said mockingly. There was a bitter anger in his blue-gray eyes.

Esmeraude instinctively folded her arms across her chest and glared indignantly at him. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"If you haven't realized by now, you're even more self-centered than I thought you were," Safir retorted. He stood up abruptly and returned her look of severity.

"I still don't know what you're talking about, Safir," Esmeraude repeated. "I never thought you felt anything at all. You were always just sort of standing there, watching quietly in the corner, whenever I spoke with your brother. Why are you getting all angry over that?"

"That's exactly what I thought you would say," Safir said, still refusing to back down. "Did the look on my face each time never register into your mind at all? You're the most insensitive, pompous, self-loving woman I've ever met."

And with those words he walked away in quiet dignity, leaving a shocked Esmeraude standing alone once again.

--

The music halted, and the dancers below the stage stood perfectly still in anticipation. The two in the center of the stage held each other's hands, as if afraid to let go after the surreal music ended. After all, there was no reality quite as pleasant and beautiful as the dreamlike state they had been in together only moments ago.

"That," Usagi murmured breathlessly, breaking the silence between them, "was really wonderful, Demando. Maybe it's because of the music and surroundings, and being up here, where no one else is, that made this dance so amazing."

"I've danced on this very stage many times before," Demando said, almost to himself. There was a spark of wonderment in his deep violet eyes as he spoke. "But I've never felt before anything like the way I feel today. There was something about that last dance that felt… _right_."

He paused as the meaning of his own words struck him. "I mean…"

"I know what you mean," Usagi said gently, smiling. "Because I feel the exact same way."

A silence followed as Demando tried to process this. He had an urge to do _something_ at this moment, but he did not know what. Was there something he should say? Should he… tell her how much he enjoyed dancing with her, in contrast with Esmeraude? Should he do something to show what he felt as he looked at her in her glorious, impossible beauty? How exactly _did_ he feel right now, anyway? His mind seemed to blank out as he attempted to think, and an unexpected rush of heat overcame him when he looked at her again.

"I think it's time for us all to go around the dining table in the center of the room," Demando said awkwardly, unable to find the right words to say. "Usually that's what we do after the dance ends."

"Oh, I see," Usagi responded brightly. "Well, that's good, because I just realized that I'm very hungry right now. I haven't eaten since yesterday, when Safir gave me that basket of food, and dancing with you did tire me out, though I didn't notice it at the time."

"Then it's a good thing we stopped right now," Demando said, relieved. "We'd better get down and join the rest of the citizens. I'll walk you over to the table."

"Thanks," Usagi said gratefully. "I'm not even sure I know how to find my way out of the backstage room. It's so dark in there."

"Don't worry," Demando reassured her. He walked slowly over to the door leading down the stairs, and allowed her to follow him into the darkness beneath. "I've been in there a thousand times."

--

Two pairs of eerie, shining circular eyes glinted from the sheet of pure darkness that surrounded them. They never wavered, only stared out as if transfixed by the black reality that penetrated the very air. For in this corner of the universe there was no light, save the infinitesimal glow emanating from those lackluster blue orbs. This was the territory in which Chaos thrived.

"The heroine of Earth, that foolish Sailor Moon, has been displaced from her proper home," mused a cloaked figure that hovered in the middle of the room, holding a crystal sphere spattered with spots of darkness. "This is an opportune time for the Doom Phantom to destroy Earth, weak without its defenses, with no one to protect its boundaries from the _evils_ of the universe…"

A raspy semblance of laughter rang out through the empty spaces as the Wiseman planned his ultimate destruction.

--

A relatively short chapter this time. I don't have too much to say about it, except that I tried my very best to describe their dance (both their own feelings and the sight an observer would see) as realistically as possible, and I'm not sure if I succeeded. Maybe it was a little too perfect, but it _is _supposed to be one of those things that feels amazing, and something that will be memorable for both of them as their relationship progresses. At this point, both of them enjoy each other's company immensely, but can't quite place _why_ they do because of their mindsets.

Thank you all for continuing to read and review, and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I possibly can (with three essays that I need to do for school, anyway). The next few weeks are going to be really tough, but please bear with me =)


	8. Chapter 8

I apologize for taking so long to write this new chapter (and yes, this IS the actual chapter 8. I'm not going to stick in any more extra chapters, simply because it's too troublesome and I think what I have now is sufficient for their development).

I'm going through a sort of slow phase where I can't be all that productive… partly because I'm extremely busy, and partly because I'm really trying to make the story go as it should, and hopefully have a somewhat high-quality piece of work by the time I finish. I wish I were writing this during the summer, though- I'd probably be able to churn out a chapter every two days or so if that were the case, but my academic life is killing my free time.

--

_The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves. -Sophocles_

--

Usagi sipped the rich Nemesian wine for the first time, taking in only a little. She did not have much experience with alcoholic drinks, except on rare occasions of celebration, and felt no need to gulp down an excess of the light rubicund beverage on the table. She was, after all, feeling out of place in this aristocratic assembly, and drunkenness was something she suspected was not looked upon in favor. Besides, the taste had never been particularly pleasing to her, and she drank only out of courtesy.

She was sitting at the head of the table, on a royally embroidered seat right next to Demando. The foods all looked exotic, and she was slightly intimidated by the odd assortment of foods that came from the planet of Nemesis. They were not as varied as food on Earth, and meats were scarce, but evidently they had been cooked in such a way that they were perfectly fit for a royal occasion. A pungent aroma rose up to Usagi's face, filling her with sudden hunger.

She cautiously picked up a string of a bluish-green plant that sat on a dish near her, and raised it to her mouth. It melted upon touching her warm tongue, leaving a sweet taste in her mouth. She lifted her arm to reach for another one, but a sudden feeling of overwhelming nausea swept over her. The room suddenly began tilting and darkening, and she could no longer keep her eyes open.

She collapsed back onto the chair, unable to maintain her consciousness, and then the blackness wiped her away.

--

Wiseman's silver robes fluctuated in constant motion as the flow of unimaginable quantities of dark energy coursed through his body. Though there was no wind in this deserted sector of the universe, they seemed to be blown by some force hidden beneath their surface.

The spectral blue orbs flashed out suddenly from within the darkness as a small feminine figure appeared out of the eternal night that encompassed him. "Here I am, Doom Phantom."

"Pyrite," he croaked gleefully. "It appears my servant has managed to free you from that ancient spell. Naturally it was necessary that Sailor Moon be… put to sleep, shall I say. Her powers seem to disrupt evil forces around her. In addition, my plan caused that fool of a prince to turn a blind eye to the dangers lurking in his own kingdom."

"I owe you much gratitude, Doom Phantom," Pyrite said coldly, her bitter, colorless eyes narrowed on the strange, inhuman form that floated before here. "Now that you have finally released me from that wretched imprisonment, what are your conditions in summoning me here? I expect you'll keep me in this child's body until I fulfill the services you ask of me, am I right? I know beasts like you far too well."

"That is correct," Wiseman said, letting out cackles of harsh laughter. "I have the power to reverse any spell placed on you by those irritating weaklings of Nemesis, but in return you must assist me in cultivating the true power of the Dark Crystal. For you are the only one who can extract the full extent of its dark power, and you have the magical knowledge required to use it."

"And what would you have me _do_ with it when I'm through with that?" Pyrite asked suspiciously.

"Do whatever you desire to do with it," Wiseman said, a gleam appearing in his luminous eyes. "Have your revenge on Nemesis and the terrible people who sentenced you to such a cruel punishment of eternity in servitude, when you had once been the queen of all dark sorceresses! Let its power fill you, so that you can devastate the land and life around you. Destroy the earthlings who first sent you away to that depleted planet, forcing you to fend for yourself among those despicable fools who set out from the very beginning to ruin you!"

Pyrite's face formed a malicious smile as she listened to his words eagerly. "That is exactly what I want."

--

Usagi's eyelids fluttered for several seconds before she was able to adjust to her surroundings, which were oddly blurry. It didn't help that the light from above was aimed directly at her face, either. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, slowly looking around. She felt heavy and weak, for some reason, and she struggled to lift herself up with her strengthless arms. Somehow, she had ended up back in the room she now took residence in, beneath the silky blue sheets of the bed.

As she turned her eyes straight ahead to the mirror on the opposite wall, her entire body tensed up in a single second as she saw in the reflection a figure sitting beside her bed. Demando, to be exact.

"You're awake," he said softly, almost disbelievingly, as he sat unmoving in an anxious, forward-leaning position on the chair. His entire body seemed stiff and solid, as hard and weighted as stone. His mouth was slightly ajar, and the ends of his lips seemed to curl upwards almost unnoticeably, as if he were about to smile, before sagging back down.

"What happened?" Usagi asked, pondering the answer to that question herself. She couldn't seem to remember… she had been to that ball earlier, hadn't she? Or had she dreamt all that? Why was Demando here, anyway?

"Are you all right?" Demando asked, his face lined with deep concern. "You're not in pain, are you?"

_What a preposterous question_, Usagi thought. "Why would I not be all right? I don't understand. Why are you sitting next to my bed, staring at me like that, Demando?"

He sighed heavily, in what seemed like partial relief and partial exhaustion. There was an undisguisable fatigue in his tone as he muttered unhappily, "You were poisoned."

"_What?_" Usagi practically shouted in shock and revulsion at this piece of information. Her hands began shaking unsteadily. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"Someone anticipated that you would sit on the traditional seat of the King's lady, on my right hand side, at the table. I suppose that sometime while we were onstage, that person must have doused a Neacite stone in your drink, without anyone noticing."

"Neacite?" Usagi looked at him blankly.

"A mildly poisonous mineral that's well known on Nemesis for its ability to induce long periods of coma-like sleep in its victim, and slowly work its way through the body while it is inactive," Demando explained. "But it seems that its effects don't quite work completely on you. Perhaps your natural body structure is immune to its poison. However, now that you've awoken, we need to get a doctor to make sure there are no side effects."

With that he stood up, still stiff, and walked towards the door.

"Wait, how long have I been asleep?" Usagi asked tensely, an ominous feeling beginning to rise in her.

"Seven days," Demando replied warily, as if the last few days had consumed all the energy he had left in him. "I was afraid you weren't going to come out of it at all, but your vital signs were still running perfectly, without any sign of breaking down or becoming exhausted. All I could do was sit here and hope that you would eventually wake up within several weeks, as the few preceding survivors did."

"You were sitting by my side, watching me this whole time?" Usagi said, a strange dichotomy of elation and sadness welling up inside of her, struggling to gain sole control over her senses. "Demando… you didn't have to do that."

"I wouldn't have chosen to be anywhere else," Demando said quietly, in a soft tone that she had rarely ever heard him speak in before.

"Spending those days here, not knowing whether you were dead or alive for those seven days was the worst, most hellish trial of my life," he continued, his eyes blazing for the first time with powerful emotion. His fists were latched together so tightly that his knuckles visibly protruded, even from Usagi's distance. "It was absolutely… tantalizing. Every time I reached out and lifted your wrist, feeling for your heartbeat, I could feel its vibrations flowing into me. Your heartbeat was so overwhelmingly strong that it seemed to ooze out the essence of life through its sound, and that subsequently led me to imagine you moving as I held your arm.

"Yet you stayed, still and cold, with a face so calm that it was impossible to tell whether you were dead or alive. And I sank down into torment once again, every single time. You were _my_ responsibility, and I had degraded you to such a state through my carelessness. It was impossible for me to leave your side, Usagi. I could not accept that you might not wake up ever again; each time I looked at you, I felt a tiny fragment of hope, even as despair wrenched it from me so effortlessly. I felt that you _had_ to be alive. Or perhaps… perhaps I needed you to be." He said this gently, almost timidly for the first time, but with such honesty that Usagi wanted to cry.

There was a sinking feeling in her chest as she listened to his words. Her breath seemed to escape her as she imagined each detail of what he had described, her mind suddenly thrown into total anarchy. She knew each emotion he had spoken of far too intimately, for it was what she herself had felt in those agonizing, draining days right after Mamoru's death. To have caused someone else that degree of pain was heartbreaking.

"I'm sorry," Usagi said, her voice cluttering up. "I'm so sorry."

Demando stared at her solemnly for a few moments. By the time Usagi blinked again, he was kneeling at her side. He lifted his face towards hers ever so slightly, and there was a single point of light in his deep violet eyes. "You bewilder me, Usagi."

"I know now exactly how you must have felt in those few days," Usagi elaborated, her teeth clenching after she spoke. "It was how I felt after I lost Mamoru. I couldn't accept it. All I could do was wait there, wishing that my state of existence after his death was not reality, but only some insignificant, fading role in the most horrid nightmare imaginable. There was nothing but pain and suffering in those first few days, and those all-consuming banes seemed to trickle out from some dark cloud above me. And my hope that there would be some way to bring him back made it only that much worse. Because I didn't know how- I was helplessly immersed in my own dreams, and had no way of bringing them to reality.

"I never wanted to go through that ever again, and that's part of the reason I was so cold, so angry towards you. I wanted to hate you, because the way you acted towards me scared me. I couldn't stand your controlling ways, your bitter, impassioned coldness, and your somewhat rude courteousness, because I _liked_ you for those things. I was afraid to ever care about anyone as much as I'd cared for Mamoru ever again."

She paused, almost in surprise at herself. She'd never admitted any of that, never told anyone how much sorrow she had felt over Mamoru's death, or how much she had wanted to believe he would come back. Even after she had heard the final farewell, when his voice had somehow transcended time and space, a secret part of her longed for him still. It was only through dreaming, hoping that he could return to her, that she had been able to console herself. She had ignored the reality around her, her friends and family who still loved her, because she was immersed in her bittersweet dreams. And now it all snapped back as she let it out, let go of her true feelings for the first time.

"But now… I can't bear to think that I caused that same wrenching sorrow to happen to you," Usagi said. "I didn't intend for it to happen, but I'm very, very sorry."

"There's nothing to forgive," Demando said calmly, a look of quiet admiration in his eyes. "What I went through is not in the least your fault. The person to blame is the one who actually poisoned you. Besides, I chose to put myself through everything I did, didn't I?"

"But why?" Usagi asked, unable to comprehend his steadfast concern for her. "Why would you have stayed here, agonizing over me? You could have just as easily asked a servant to watch me here, and stopped concerning yourself with my welfare. You… you're the prince. You have so many things to manage, so much that you need to do. You didn't need to worry so much just for… well, for _me_. Especially since I'm awake and perfectly fine now… ah, Demando, I feel like I've wasted so much of your time."

"Would you have done the same, if it had been that Mamoru of yours, unconscious and possibly dead?" Demando looked her directly in the eye, with an intense gaze that seemed to search through her. "Despite being a queen with so many tasks to handle?"

"Yes," Usagi responded automatically, without thinking. "I would have done anything I possibly could have to help Mamoru, if he were in that sort of condition."

"Then you understand how I felt," Demando said. "It's impossible for you to simply go about your regular business when someone you care about could be dying."

Those few words immobilized Usagi almost instantly, making it impossible for her to do anything but stare ahead at him. A rush of emotions was beginning to flood through her entire body, and warmth filled her. _He cares about me_. It was such a simple statement, and yet the reaction it caused in her was so huge that she could feel the magnified happiness engulfing her, threatening to burst inside of her at any second. It was enough to appease the biting guilt she had felt at being a burden to Demando- for it showed that he, too, could feel, as loftily and magnificently as it was possible for a human being to feel. He had been able to muster enough emotion to make _her_ feel ashamed of her petty coolness, the unapproachable air she had erected around herself for quite some time. What had happened to her, to make her sink so far in her own grievances that as to refuse to think about the people around her? It was Demando's capacity to care now that sent her back to reality, and allowed her to acknowledge her own mistakes.

"I would do the same for you, too," Usagi returned sincerely, wanting to make up for her attitude towards him.

"Then you need not feel guilty about anything," Demando said, smiling slightly. "That makes us even, at least in spirit."

"All right," Usagi said, laughing abruptly. "I won't hold myself accountable since you so insist, _Prince_."

The use of his title when she had been addressing him by name since she had met him, in good humor, made him laugh with her for some reason. He felt light and almost _happy_, as if just being here, in the live presence of this girl whom he had watched painstakingly for days, was far more than enough compensation for his misery. Suddenly, it was worth a thousand times that emotional anguish just to be here with her, to see that lovely, radiant smile directing its light at him. Now that she was animated once more, gushing life from her very expression, the depression he had dealt with since she had fallen unconscious in the middle of dining washed away entirely. He could simply see her, in her majestic beauty, no longer still and cold but full of the warmth of life.

He watched in fascination as she lifted herself completely, her long blonde hair slowly slid down from her face like liquid gold, luminous and smooth. The deep blue of her eyes that now absorbed the small light of the sun seemed to be the most enticing shade of color Demando had ever encountered. She was absolute perfection; in this moment her raw beauty surpassed even that of the image he had spent so many lengthy, sweet hours simply gazing at, the statuesque profile of Neo Queen Serenity in all her majesty. Perhaps it was the air of purity that Usagi exuded that truly drew out her beauty; the fact that she had set no barriers out against him, whether mentally, through her unwillingness to let him approach her, or physically, by using the artificial touch of makeup that Neo Queen Serenity had used to enhance her appearance. Whatever it was that made Usagi so resplendent in her beauty, merely in her most natural state, Demando could no longer will his legs to carry him out the door. He simply stood there, staring at her, an expression that was almost contented settling over his hard features.

There was a feeling that smoldered across the air around them, subtle yet powerful; it was like the moment when the sun rose, releasing sublime light into the chaotic darkness and terror of night. Whatever they had suffered through in the days before, those feelings were cast away precipitously here, in the pure light of a new beginning.

"I want to thank you for staying with me this entire time," Usagi said, lightly but meaningfully. "I wish I could say it better, in some way that you could really understand, but the only way I can think of to express how I feel is by saying that it really means a lot to me."

"Don't thank me," Demando replied, wincing. "It makes me feel like I'm taking credit for something I never did. Or rather, that I'm being praised for my faults."

"But you _did_ stay by me," Usagi said slowly, perplexed. "You shouldn't feel that way."

"If I'd never taken you here, then you wouldn't have been poisoned in the first place," Demando said. "It was only right that I tried my best to save you."

"But if you'd never taken me here, then I would still be in my room right now, sobbing about Mamoru and how his death had shattered my wretched, fragile little life," Usagi said without holding back. "You're the one who helped me get up even as I was moping on the floor, and you gave me a way to mend. I owe you as much as you owe me, even though you may not think so."

He'd never thought of it that way, and her words sent a thrill of undeniable satisfaction through him. And yet somehow he couldn't seem to accept her words for their value in his mind; her dependence on him, the necessity of his comfort for her, simply could not be real. It was difficult for him to imagine that he had actually given her anything to make her trust him so unconditionally in the past few days. While he had respected her, and revealed to her a large part of his innermost feelings, he had never once tried to understand _her_ situation. It bothered him that he could have been so blind and so selfish. It had all been because he had despised that name that crept in so often between them, splitting them asunder, the name that was more impenetrable an obstacle than the vastest of mountains.

_Mamoru._

He had always been one to avoid the ugliest truths of life even as they passed in front of him, and yet the idea of the man with whom Usagi had been so desperately in love seemed to crash through his calm indifference again and again, seeping through the crevices of even the liveliest, most blissful moments of his being. When he was preparing to dance with Usagi, he had seen the look of troubled confliction beneath the bright ocean-blue eyes, the slight crease of her lips as she looked at him, almost as if she were analyzing him, comparing him. The underlying cause of her mental dissent had clearly been her loyalty to that man whom she had loved so deeply, even in death. And her words to him at their first meeting still rang loudly, as crisp and cutting in his mind as ever: _As long as I live, I will never betray Mamoru's love for the likes of people such as you._

It hurt him, even now. Though they were the only two people actually in the room, the uncannily huge presence of a third seemed to lie directly on the line between them, his invisible body an obstacle that stood firmly, facing Demando and protecting Usagi. In both their minds, he was the barrier that prevented them from reaching each other. Usagi's overwhelming sense of loyalty and love for Mamoru, supreme even in his death, would not allow her to give herself away to Demando, to finalize her love for him, however much their bond grew. And Demando, in his fear of love, of the rejection and heartbreak that so often stemmed from that blinding emotion, did not dare to break from his stony pretense of coldness and reveal his absolute, unconditional love for her. They were desperate for some way to give each other what they wanted so much to give, and yet torn by the restraint of their own hearts.

It now seemed like the moment right after the breaking of dawn across the shadowy sky, when the glory of the risen sun, so bright and yet so fleeting, seemed to fade into the clouded distance, forever out of the reach of cold, grasping mortal hands.

--

Gah, I'm trying _so_ hard to capture the strength of their feelings with each other while keeping them under control at the same time. I guess I'm sort of romantic about these kinds of things- I like love that develops slowly, without the sudden, over-the-top passion that explodes and leaves a wasteland of memories behind it. (Wow, that was pretty poetic for part of a side note. Then again, I do get… intense… sometimes).

I hope you all liked this chapter, anyhow =) I really enjoyed writing it. My writing style is sort of changing, I think. The story is progressively getting more serious, which is both good and bad in some ways. I'm not sure if I'm really conveying the ideas I mean to in this story, but I've definitely ended up going a lot deeper into ideas and philosophies than I originally planned to. It's also kind of ironic, since Wiseman's plan actually brings Demando and Usagi closer together.

And I know I've been seriously neglecting the other Sailor Senshi again. I just haven't really had time to get to them yet. But I'll definitely move their storyline along in the next chapter, or else I'll be behind in my own plot XD


	9. Chapter 9

I sincerely apologize for the amount of time it has taken me to get back to writing this and finishing this chapter, but I've been insanely busy lately filling out AP forms and summer program applications, so much so that I've hardly had any spare time over the past few weeks. Fortunately for me, I got into everything I applied for, and now I have a little bit of free time to finish this chapter up before I get loaded up with work again, as I know I probably will be soon.

Anyway, this is kind of a short chapter, but I wrote as much as I felt like needed to be written. Hopefully I'll be able to continue writing soon, during the break we're having next week.

--

_Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. – Martin Luther King Jr._

--

At this inopportune moment, the large gilded doors burst open with a tremulous force that caught both Demando and Usagi off guard. Demando whirled around at the sudden sound, only to see his subordinate, Rubeus, standing at its entrance, out of breath. Seeing the look of urgency on Rubeus's flushed, sweaty face, he asked candidly, "What's the matter, Rubeus?"

"Our first-priority prisoner on this journey, Pyrite, has escaped her imprisonment and fled to a remote region of the universe that holds an unimaginably evil aura. The spell that bound her to our command seems to have been broken by some portion of that same dark energy, and now we are unable to trace her exact location," Rubeus relayed quickly. "We have to do something about this now, Prince. After all those years she was trapped, there's no chance she would let us off. She must be allying with those evil forces in order to destroy Nemesis."

Demando's haggard face now became livid, as if this final misfortune had drained away the last of his energy even from his hardened features. "You're saying that we have no way to find her and bring her back under our control? She's completely free of the century-long magic that silenced her evil?"

"I'm afraid so," Rubeus said, shaking his head in disdain. "I ran to tell you as soon as we noticed. Prince Demando, we need to halt our invasion of Earth and return to defend Nemesis from attack."

"I'm aware of that," Demando said solemnly, staring ahead unhappily. "Let me make a complete decision on how to stop this problem, and then you may announce it to the people in this castle. We absolutely must protect Nemesis."

"All right," Rubeus said, rather gruffly. "I understand."

He walked out the door again, leaving Usagi and Demando to themselves once more. Usagi's face had grown pale, and her eyes were wide. Her visage was tensed up to a great degree, as if she had been holding back her breath the entire time the two men were speaking.

"Pyrite, the wicked sorceress you told me so much about at the ceremony, is really free now?" Usagi could not help asking incredulously.

Demando looked uncharacteristically shaken by the unsettling turn of events that had just occurred. He managed a distant "yes" as he stood statue-like on spot, detached in his intense cogitation. His eyes were unsettled and murky, like tumultuous violet oceans that had been smothered by dark ripples.

It was a long time before either spoke. Finally, Demando broke the silence with a somber voice that seemed to echo again and again in the sparse chamber. He seemed not to be speaking to Usagi, but to be releasing his line of thought from his mind.

"We brought this doom upon ourselves. Who knows how much that hatred in Pyrite multiplied, in those hundred years of imprisonment? How much it must have grown, expanded through the years, like a black hole, vacuuming all the negative energy around it to fuel what lies within those dense, pitch-black boundaries… and she simply remained a vengeful soul in a shell too small to contain such anger. We could not destroy her, and we could not release her. So we left her there, feeling invincible in our self-proclaimed security, and let that already-rotten soul become rank with sheer hatred and evil. I feel as if there was something that should have been done a long time ago… that might have ended this catastrophe before it began."

Usagi watched him thoughtfully, her eyes lingering over his stricken, regretful face. She felt the same sense of veneration for the white prince as when she had seen him in that bathing chamber weeks ago, engulfed in silvery waters and golden light. Although his current surroundings seemed mundane in contrast to that unearthly room of his palace, the magnificence of his intense feeling, inexplicably strengthened by long repression, seemed to fill the spaces around her and reach her core. It was at this moment that he snapped out of his disturbed reverie and looked at her again.

"I'm sorry, Usagi. I must be confusing you," Demando said suddenly, shaking his head gently. "But I feel like there's some elusive solution that I keep moving towards, and every time I get near it, it flits away again. I can't place it, but it's as if I'm about to understand why this happened. And as you taught me, that's the first step to finding the way to deal with such a quandary."

"No, I do understand you," Usagi said consolingly. "Sometimes you need to fight it out in your mind to reach the truth. The answer's not always easy, and sometimes it seems like it's impossible to find. I didn't know how to use my powers to protect people at first, either. But once I learned how great my responsibility was, how many lives were at stake because of the evil forces of Chaos, I had to rise up to overcome any challenge that threatened what's left of the good in the universe. And I don't regret it at all."

He nodded slowly, absorbing her earnest words. For a period of time, he paced back and forth across the hard crystal floor, engrossed in his thoughts. His eyes seemed to focus sharply as he looked down and sought some solid answer to this unexpected problem. When he finally turned to her again, it was not a conclusion that left his lips, but an immense question.

"How do you think monsters like Pyrite are created?" Demando's words seemed to pierce the air around them, sending shivers down Usagi's numb spine. She could find no answer that could match the magnitude of the question before her.

"I know the source of their evil is the Chaos that always lives, somewhere in the far reaches of the universe," Usagi began, repeating what she had always known. "But as to what causes them to change that way… I don't know."

"I think I do, in some measure," Demando said softly, his voice gentle and terrible at the same time. "Because I've been on that path before. It's a combination of solitude and resentment, of not being able to understand love and envying those who can. We're conquered by the darkness because we can see no light ahead of us. Being human in such a world… it's like a star, rapidly burning and shedding light in all directions through the vast universe, illuminating everything except itself. But there are always stars that are too far away for the light of others ever to reach them. There are always people who are untouched by the warmth and happiness humans are meant to give each other, unaffected by the feelings that allow us to live on. And they begin to think, if no one reached out to me, if no one wanted me, why am I still here? Or perhaps, why should I let those who ignored me, throwing me out from their lives without a second thought, continue to live? It's that kind of thinking that sows evil across the universe, and once it begins, there is no end to it. Not until someone can dig out the roots from underneath and remove it from the hearts and minds of men forever."

"That's so horrible," Usagi said, her eyes dropping. "I… I never could have imagined that there were human beings who could feel that way. I was always so loved by my parents, by friends, and by Mamoru. I complained sometimes because I was used to being treated well, and everything was so easy for me. My life was always so simple, so blissful, as if nothing could ever go wrong for me. Maybe that shows how little I know about this world I'm trying to protect, after all." There was a note of bitter self-deprecation in her tone.

"No," Demando said passionately. "You understand _everything_ your world should be, Usagi. You are the greatest thing humanity can offer to a detached, miserable race like ours; someone who has withstood and conquered again and again the trials of the heart that have snared human beings from time immemorial, and carried on those lessons to others. Don't mistake your kindness and innocence for weakness. You constantly lay your own life on the line for people you've never even met. You suffered a huge loss, the death of the one dearest to you, and yet you never lost yourself. You still were able to show me what the things that really matter in life, despite the way Mamoru's death tore you apart. If every living thing in this vast universe were like you, Chaos would cease to exist. It's because there are people like you in the world that there is any hope for peace in the end."

Usagi's eyes widened as she sat perfectly still on the cold bed, stunned. He walked over to her silently, gazing at her with a tender expression on his weary face. Placing his hand firmly on her cheek, he leaned in and kissed her smooth white forehead, still refraining from trespassing the boundaries they had set for so long. With this one motion he seemed to express in a way that no words could, the purity and at the same time the strength of what he felt for her. He spoke calmly to her, with a slight hint of longing and sadness in his voice.

"Please, Usagi, stay here and rest. I'll summon a doctor here at once, to make sure you're perfectly fine. I have so many things I need to attend to, for the sake of Nemesis and my people, but I promise I'll return when I'm through. I know what I need to do now, because of you. The one thing that may save us- and perhaps her as well."

His words sounded so somber and so final that Usagi could not protest his departure. He simply stood up, as straight and calm as he always had, and walked slowly but steadily on his way out. He turned his face and glanced at her one last time before stepping out of sight, and she could see the curve of a faint smile on his carved face before he looked away once more.

He left her alone in her chamber, with a tingling forehead and a rampantly beating heart.

--

"This is unbelievable," Minako whined for the umpteenth time. "Where on earth could Usagi be?"

"Maybe the pastry shop? She _does_ love stuffing her face with cakes," Makoto said, though her voice was not very encouraging. "We could try, and hopefully…"

"We've been just about everywhere she could possibly be at least twice by now," Rei said, exasperated. Her thin, pretty face was contorted into an expression of panicked desperation. "Unless she's been spending the past two weeks at the pastry shop, she really is _gone_."

"All the more reason to look there, then," Makoto urged. "We need to know. If she's not there, then that could mean she's in serious trouble."

"Makoto's right," Ami agreed. "Any possible place she could be is a place we need to go. Something really doesn't feel right about this situation, especially because we needed to break into her locked house, only to find no one there. She hasn't been at home in weeks, and her parents are off on their annual vacation."

"You don't think she's living with someone else, do you?" Minako asked thoughtfully. When the others gave her questioning looks, she blushed. "Not in _that_ way, you guys! I was just thinking, maybe her aunt offered to let her stay over while her parents were gone, so she wouldn't be lonely."

"We _could_ try calling her aunt," Rei said, her face lighting up. "Just to make sure she's all right."

"But wouldn't we be worrying her if Usagi isn't there?" Makoto asked doubtfully. "Because for some reason, I don't think she is. She would at least come to see us a few times, if she's really at the point where she's willing to stay with her aunt when she couldn't face us for days after what happened to Mamoru. It just doesn't add up."

"Makoto's right," Ami sighed. "I don't think it's likely that she's there, although it was a good idea. But even so, we have to be sure."

"Mamoru's official funeral is in just one more week," Rei said wonderingly. "Usagi would never decide to miss it…"

"Unless something happened to her," Makoto finished. "Come on, we need to hurry."

"Right. Definitely," Minako said, snapping back to life. "I'll check the pastry shop with Rei, and you two can call her aunt. We _have_ to find her."

--

Esmeraude tilted her head back on the soft couch, her tangled mass of green waves nearly grazing the floor. The face that had beamed with immeasurable pride for so long was now devastated with the loss of something that had once been important to her. Her sense of complete confidence in her entitlement to all she possessed had been violated by Safir's fiery proclamation earlier on. It was the first time in her life she had ever heard such an open and honest criticism of her character. No one had ever dared to say such a thing to her face before.

It had been over a week ago, she knew, but even now she couldn't put it out of her head. It nagged at her incessantly, irritating her to no end. She simply could not accept the fact that the man she had always shunted to the side was the one who finally confronted her about everything she knew but would not face. He had done the unthinkable by telling her everything that was wrong with her, simply throwing in her face what she could never have admitted to herself. And it ate at her from the inside, because it was true.

"Damn him," she spat, feeling strange as she spoke to the silence of her room.

She sighed inaudibly, staring at the ornamented ceiling. Beneath its grandeur, she felt oddly small, as if the entire world were above its surface, quietly looking down upon her while she could not see beyond the walls of her room. A feeling of rawness overcame her as she thought of all that she was hiding from the invisible eyes she could imagine up there. But she still thought, with a small sense of satisfaction, _I'll never tell Prince Demando what I know. That's his punishment for turning me away, even after all these years._

--

I can't help incorporating my own beliefs and philosophical views into the characters' thoughts and words. Then again, I guess they're not really just my _own_ ideas, but universal reflections on life. And they fit into the plot as it goes, so I suppose I sort of have an excuse for doing it… oh well. There would be no character in writing if all authors only described events and didn't connect them to a grander scheme in life.

On a random note, I just realized the one pet peeve I have about Kagome from Inuyasha that I don't have for Usagi, even though they've both been labelled 'Mary Sue' types. It's the matter of how other people in the series view each of them. They both have clear flaws, no doubt about it. It's the fact that nobody exposes or blames Kagome for her faults that bothers me, while everyone's ready to jump on Usagi for doing something stupid. It may not seem like a big thing, but it really makes a difference in how the audience perceives the character.


	10. Chapter 10

Again, it's taken me forever to get around to posting the next chapter, and I'm very, very sorry. If my current situation were ideal, I would be uploading a new chapter every 2-3 days. But unfortunately, I've been incredibly busy and honestly haven't had time to do anything besides schoolwork and extracurricular stuff. Thank you all so much for faithfully reading and reviewing this story up to now (ten chapters already! =). I hope the content of this chapter is worth the extraneously long wait…

--

_I lie awake for hours, I'm just waiting for the sun_

_When the journey we are making has begun_

_Don't deny the feeling that is stealing through your heart,_

_Every happy ending needs to have a start._

-The Moody Blues (from _You Can Never Go Home)_

--

Usagi felt strangely faint, though not unduly so, as she sat with her head anchored to the surface of the wall. Demando had left her alone for the first time in a week—to do what? How could he not only overcome Pyrite's crushing powers, but also 'save her', as he'd said he would attempt to do? She wished she could comprehend his words about evil and its origins, and yet she had no solid knowledge, no actual experience, of what it meant to slowly let the good slip out, to deteriorate into a monster of inhumanity over time. Her head pounded as she tried to grasp what it all meant, how this convoluted scheme of good and evil would ultimately turn out…

But despite her efforts to think everything out and find some way to comprehend the dangers waiting on all sides, her mind kept returning back to one thought. All she could think about was the way Demando had kissed her so sweetly and reassuringly on her forehead, instilling within her a sweet, satisfied emotion through the silent promise of his soft lips. The way he had looked at her, with such a soft and sad expression in his eyes. The way he had been unable to restrain himself from gazing back one last time, the lines of a smile etching themselves unconsciously onto his hard, angular face. She sighed, knowing that her only choice was to trust him.

An uncanny restlessness filled her now, one that could not be blotted out. As soon as he had left, an emptiness had slowly formed in her, raking through her insides. When Demando was not with her, she felt alone again. Trapped in a circle of ringing silence, an indescribable solitude that seemed to return to itself again and again. It was only now, after he had vanished through the door for what she knew would be an unbearable length of time, that she could fully appreciate his presence.

Because she needed someone now who could understand exactly how she felt: out of place, uncertain of her purpose. Like a single ship, perpetually wandering without a destination in a sea of darkness. The tower of strength named Mamoru that had always supported her when she fell had forsaken her, leaving the helpless moon riveting out of orbit without an Earth to shine over.

Perhaps that was the reason she had never felt any pain or terror in those long unconscious hours of fighting poison from an unknown foe. She'd had the comfort of someone who cared for her, steadily and unequivocally, as he watched constantly by her side. Protecting her in her weakness and tending her to strength.

It was strange, Usagi mused, how much she wanted to be with Demando this very second. The degree of her yearning for him frightened her. This was some fragment of the reckless, persistent emotion that had engulfed her in the wake of Mamoru's death, the need for something that wasn't there. The dangerous longing for what she should never allow herself to have. She was like Eve, in the blissful arcadia of Eden, with an entire world to lose; and yet she still burned with the desire to obtain the one thing she was not allowed to have.

Because after all, she couldn't have Demando. One person could not contain the vastness of two loves, just as the moon did not have the capacity to illuminate all the planets. And the hardest question to face, the one that loomed ominously over her like hovering lightning in the air waiting to strike, was what she had avoided for so long: what kind of person would she be, if she fell in love again so soon after Mamoru's death?

After all that he had done for her, after the entire future they had planned out so perfectly, so contentedly together… she simply couldn't let go of her memories of Mamoru. How could she taint the love they had shared by letting someone else in? By taking Demando in, she was flinging away all the memories of her beloved and replacing them with new ones; she would be abandoning the one who had loved her so much for a new, darker paramour who was so completely different from Mamoru's sweet, protective self. It would be the worst kind of betrayal. And it made her feel even worse that Mamoru was now peacefully dead, unable to intervene in the course of events she had tunneled into. She felt almost as if she were exhuming his corpse from its desolate grave. She was violating the most sacred thing between them.

And yet she couldn't stop herself. She knew how deep the pit was, and she still trudged onward toward it, step by step, unable to stop. Demando's actions in the past week had sent her tumbling forward, ever closer to the edge. And it was only a matter of time before she plummeted, sailing headfirst into the endless abyss of love.

She hated herself for having allowed Demando to get this close. It was what he had wanted the entire time, wasn't it? To have her as his queen- he'd made his intentions clear from the moment they'd met. He'd wanted her, and he did everything he could to force her to love him. He tempted her into the position she was in now. And now he had what he wanted, a trapped and helpless girl unable to turn away from him. He was the villain.

If only it were that simple. A month ago, if she had heard her own story, she would have accused him of exactly that, and stuck to that theory unyieldingly. But she knew the truth now. You couldn't look at the world in black and white. You couldn't stick to one version of a story and not look at the other side. That had to be the beginning of understanding why all the bad things in the world happened.

Because no one in this world was born truly evil. Evil took over because people never bothered to look at the other side of their own actions, because they grew to become so uncompromising in their beliefs that no one could convince them that what they were doing was wrong. And that was why things naturally good could be twisted into impenetrable malice. Naivety and innocence were qualities still abundant, and yet too easily influenced and corrupted. It took someone to look at things from both sides and understand the suffering tearing them apart to finally create peace.

That was why she couldn't hate Demando. He had captured her and put her into these unsettling circumstances, compelling her to make the one choice that would break her heart. But he also cared for her and appreciated her for who she was. He shared with her things he had never told anyone else, and gave her permission to bathe in his royal basin. He had stayed by her side for days, sick with worry over whether she was going to live or die. These unforgettable acts of love could never be erased. And against her will, she treasured them up in her heart, in the same desperate, eager way a beggar stored up scraps of food. She simply couldn't get enough of this feeling that haunted her in every corner of every room, tremendously beautiful and terrible at the same time. It was not the pure and rosy love that had defined her simple, trusting relationship with Mamoru. The feeling she had now was marked by a deluge of subdued exhilaration that agonized her into breathlessness, like wildfire on the open sea.

--

"Wake up," a chillingly soft voice hissed. "You must come with me."

In shock, Esmeraude snapped her eyes open and glanced around, dazed. Her eyes landed angrily on the figure of a lovely young girl, covered from head to toe in flashing gold. "It's you!"

Smiling brilliantly like a lively, innocent child, Pyrite took a step towards the older-looking woman. "Ah, so you do recall me. All the more reason to take you away before you open that pernicious red-stained mouth of yours and tell exactly what happened, I should say."

"What do you want?" Esmeraude demanded. "I don't remember anything, anyway!"

"Oh don't you?" Pyrite asked sweetly, her pretty gray eyes hardening into steel. "Then why is it that you recognize me here?"

"I don't! I just know you're the girl who was playing the flute at the party. You're always there!" Esmeraude shouted desperately, lying through her clenched teeth.

"I'm not a fool," Pyrite said, a cruel smile forming on her face. "It seems your subconscious memory is stronger than I thought. The last time I possessed someone with my fully released sorcery, she couldn't remember anything from the past ten days. I wonder what triggered such a strong recollection of the events at the parties. Was it emotion? Did you shake in joy as I dropped the poison stone into your most hated enemy's cup? Were you just glad that someone took over for you and committed the act you did not have the courage to carry out?"

"Shut up!" Esmeraude's face became livid with deep rage as she heard these words, her fists folded together in crushing fury. "Maybe the reason I remember this time is because your powers are slipping after all these years standing in a corner!"

"A confession. That was exactly what I planned on extracting from you, you imbecile," Pyrite stated coolly. "I needed to affirm that you did remember what happened, so there would be no need to go to unnecessary measures and erase my current meeting from your mind in the event that you had no memory of those events. Now I can capture you, and, when your purpose has been served, kill you."

Esmeraude shuddered as she realized just how much power Pyrite had over her at this instant. No one was in the nearby vicinity. No one would arrive in time to rescue her. And even if someone came for her, Pyrite would probably murder that person as well. She knew all too well the story behind that girl who played the enchanted flute, gazing at the castle walls with eyes of impossible hatred.

And suddenly everything was spinning, her head flying as the darkness and coldness of space closed around her. She whirled into unconsciousness as she struggled to pull through, thinking the only thoughts that would allot her any measure of peace in inevitable death.

_Safir… I'm sorry._

--

The cumbersome drowsiness had laid hold of her in her weariness of sleep, and so Usagi could not help but shut her heavy eyes and succumb to it again. Unconscious of the hours that passed, she was finally awakened by the barely perceptible sound of a human carefully entering her room. She gave a start at the sudden arrival of another person, after long hours of restful solitude.

It was Demando, the gems adorning his outfit shimmering as he stood in a sunlit corner of the room. His immovably straight figure and stern expression accentuated a sort of drained sharpness that had encompassed him since the news of Pyrite's escape. But the violet eyes that provided a dazzling splash of rich color against his alabaster complexion had a new warmth in them. When Usagi first met him, they seemed to be deep and dark and utterly unfathomable. Yet in the golden sunlight, the piercing darkness seemed to fade back into the shadows. The dull rays of sunset seemed to light his eyes in a gentle way that nothing else could; neither fire nor artificial illumination could ever bring out the tenderness that burned in them now.

He did not look regal or puissant now, as he stood with the faint glow of the skies all around him, but he was somehow unspeakably beautiful. The worn, callused face and the painfully erect position that habit had compelled him to form even in pain made the prince seem impossibly human. The vision of terrible splendor made Usagi shiver uncontrollably, as if she were seeing the shadow of God.

"You're back," Usagi said disbelievingly, with an unblinking stare. She was afraid that this strange form would disappear into her dreams, leaving her alone in the cool dimness of dusk.

"Yes, I am," Demando said, a weak smile spreading across his tired face. "I was prepared to head out for Nemesis to help find Pyrite, but it turned out that she was in some remote section of a distant galaxy. Envoys were already sent from the department of civil regulation to me, asking what the orders for the defense of Nemesis were. I didn't have to leave this floating palace at all. Everything is under control in my home planet. It's just a matter of capturing Pyrite, now that we know her location."

"That's great," Usagi said cheerily. Then she noticed the dismal look on Demando's face, and knit her eyebrows in concern. "What is it?"

"It's nothing really," Demando said, shaking his head uncertainly. "I have a strange feeling that it's not over yet. I don't understand why, but something tells me that it won't go nearly as smoothly as they make it out. And there's another outside factor, too. Someone helped Pyrite escape, and managed to get past all of our security defenses. Whoever it is, I doubt that we could overtake both that person and Pyrite, in the event that we confront them. I feel like my kingdom is in very real danger, and I can only sit at the sidelines and watch, ordering people around without understanding the true strength of the enemy. There must be something I can do to help, but… I can't see it."

Touched by Demando's agonized manner, Usagi blurted, "I wish we had leaders like you in my world."

"_Why?_" Demando asked incredulously, tilting his head violently to the side. "Why would you want a helpless prince who's constantly frustrated with himself for not being able to save his own people?"

"Because they actually matter to him," Usagi said softly. "Because he doesn't play political games to try to gain popularity and support. He truly cares about the welfare of his own people."

Demando let out a deep sigh, followed by a long, trembling silence. Finally he raised his head and looked straight into her eyes, muttering sadly, "You're willing to believe so much in my goodness, Usagi. And sometimes I can't accept it, that another person could think of someone like me so highly, never doubting me and never looking down at my flaws. I can't deny to myself that they're always there, no matter how hard I try to close myself off and seem like the ideal king, hard and relentless. My weakness carves a hole in me, deeper and deeper as people place me higher and higher on a crumbling golden pedestal. I hate myself for even having any weakness. I wouldn't be able to stand failing and proving you wrong, because you're the first person who's ever seen beyond my appearance and rank."

"I can't believe you're telling me this," Usagi said, her eyes tearing up slightly as she turned to face him, a delicate smile on her pale face. She paused before admitting, with raw wonder in her voice, "I always thought you were so impenetrably hard and cold, utterly impossible to really connect to and understand. In a way like a diamond that reflected sheer brilliance and strength whenever a light touched it, but never could reveal what lay beneath that glimmering exterior in its core."

Her eyes brightened as she spoke again, a note of thrilling discovery in her tone. "I was wrong, though. And I'm really happy that I'm wrong, for the first time I remember. As foolish and awful as it may sound, I wanted to see the human side of you, no matter how vulnerable and fallible it was."

Demando's soft mauve eyes widened at her words, his mouth tipping slightly ajar. Usagi continued unreservedly, with unrestrained honesty, "I missed you after you left. These past few weeks it seems that the only people in my life are you, Safir, and Esmeraude. But especially you, Demando. And in your absence, all my comfort and happiness left me. I was hoping so much that you would come back the second you walked out that silver door, even though I really wanted myself not to depend on you."

Demando absorbed this overwhelming revelation of pure emotion in silence, wanting nothing more than to stay here forever, to give her everything that she needed in him. His weary hand found its way to hers, and their bodies folded into a wordless embrace naturally, as if it were the only thing in the world that was right. His rigid, exhausted body eventually collapsed onto the luxurious bed, and she sat beside his unconscious figure unmoving, with her small, smooth hand still clasping his cold white one. She had never seen him asleep before, and the shade of innocence that seemed to linger over his softened face filled her with a sense of peace.

It was in this moment that she realized what she had blinded herself to ever since Mamoru's death, with a resigned conviction both firm and tragic. The world that she had held onto with innocent, desperate obsession was already lost. Mamoru was gone, and the naïve light with which she had seen that place they had inhabited together had disappeared as well. Paradise had already left her, even as she clung to her dreamlike façade of being able to find it again. She was in a world of crimson sunsets and cold waters, letting time fill the crevices of her heart as it spun around perpetually back to the beginning, returning her momentously to the same feelings she had carried those years ago, when everything was fresh and wild and beautiful. The lightheaded happiness and the churning, tumultuous anxiety of love seemed to return to her again, after everything that had happened. The only distinction between the past and present was the void that lay somewhere in the dark recesses of her heart, leading her back through uncertain, open plains and sunken marshes soaked with the dampness of accumulated tears.

And she realized that Demando was not the forbidden fruit of temptation that tantalized her, fooling her human weakness. To her, he was the bittersweet remnant of hope that transcended the boundaries of life, the faint fire passed through the generations in the midst of so much calamity and death. For when paradise has deserted humankind, and the dream of perfection forever lost to the ages, hope is what remains, like the pure, untouchable core of a gnawed fruit.

And that was enough. She could finally lay down her defenses and go on, no longer searching endlessly for a past that had already dissolved into the unreachable void of time. She could leave her yearning for Mamoru's return behind, and simply honor him with a nostalgic, reverent love of him and their days together. She had finally let go of the inhibitions she had forced on herself as a cover against the shock and terror of his death. She was free to carry on with her life, to pick up the pieces on her own and eventually form a different future from the clouded fragments Mamoru had left behind.

She had nothing left to fear. All that was left was to begin again, to move frozen time onward into a reckless, uncertain future. After all, that was one of the beautiful things of life; never being certain of what would happen next, constantly being surprised by the small things that bombarded humans into helpless delight. And so she allowed herself to fall asleep here once more in the obscurity of waning twilight, her shifting fingers still fixedly intertwined in those of the one whom she had finally allowed herself to love.

--

I realize that this chapter has been really different from all the other ones in terms of, er, symbolism, I suppose? And general complexity as well, which might make it more difficult to read. Although I like it as it is, because all the time I've spent crafting this sequence and tweaking it as close to perfection as I can get somehow makes me feel like I've matured as a writer. Oh, and I was also sort of inspired by reading the ending of _The Great Gatsby,_ which was so amazing and brilliant that the desire to go into topics with greater scope appears to have rubbed off on me. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it despite my super long and unfortunate hiatus. Reviews would be very much appreciated, though my irresponsibility has probably annoyed everyone XD


	11. Chapter 11

Unfortunately I seem to have a severe lack of leisure time. My SAT II is coming up, and I still have a lot to study so I can get a perfect score… And then I have tests and papers and everything else that makes school awful. I honestly have little time to write, as much as I really, really want to.

But never mind all that. I'm still as determined to finish this story as ever, both for my own growth and for those of you who consistently read and review so kindly. Reviews really do help- they give me a sense of how other people view what I've created, and help me sort of figure out my own thoughts on my writing.

However, one thing I will say regarding some possible misconceptions is that this story is not meant to be cute and fluffy, nor is it supposed to be typical in the romance story way. My point was never to create a perfect and pointless melodrama about the thrills of blooming romance. _The Meaning of Love_ is meant to be about exactly what love really means. It's not always perfect like in fairy tales, and people rarely fall in love instantaneously and live a blissful and sweet life afterwards. But then those constant struggles that people go through are exactly what makes things like love so precious.

--

To love someone is to give that person the power to destroy you, and trust that person not to do it anyway. -Unknown

--

Demando awoke to a pale glow, the first glimmer of golden dawn peaking through the crystal screens of Usagi's unfamiliar room. He slowly opened his eyes fully, taking in his placid surroundings. A feeling of perfect contentment settled in his chest as he gazed above at the elaborate paintings of imperial figures, his eyes gliding over the cold remains of what the Nemesian royalty had inspired through the centuries. For what seemed an immeasurable length of time he simply stared listlessly into space, unable to think or move; a feeling that was impossible to define overcame him as he lay there, inexplicably suspended in the ceaseless cycle of past and future whose presence permeated the very air around him. It was not until Usagi stirred slightly in her sleep, tilting her body slightly away from him, that he remembered that he was still holding her hand.

In surprise at her movement, he let go of her immobile white hand without thinking. At that exact moment, Usagi's warm cerulean eyes opened wide at the sudden removal of the object she had been holding on to so comfortably, and her composed sleep dissolved into a confused consciousness. Her eyes shifted upward to the stately form of the white prince, gently looking over her with an expression of slight regret on his face.

"Demando?" Usagi whispered, unable to summon her voice.

"I'm sorry for waking you up," he answered quietly. "I shouldn't have let go of your hand."

Instinctively she placed her warm hand on his smooth cold one again, marveling a little at the difference between the two. "It's fine. I've had far too much sleep these past few days, anyway."

"It's strange to think that I fell asleep right beside you, without even feeling uncomfortable or restless," Demando murmured thoughtfully. "I'm surprised that your presence didn't keep me awake constantly."

"Maybe you were just too tired," Usagi suggested. "That always happens to me, actually. When I'm around people I'm really close to, I can just slip into sleep without even noticing, and my friends will just wait me out on it. They've always been so considerate of me, even when they get irritated with my clumsy, thoughtless ways."

"But I've never fallen asleep with another person around, ever," Demando insisted uncertainly. "Not Safir, not my parents… I just find it so odd. Even when I was a young child, I always had my own royal chamber, and if Safir was so much as sitting quietly in the corner while I lay on my bed, I could never fall asleep. If one of my parents was around, I closed my eyes until I could sense that no one remained in my room. No one could lower my sense of… my sense of insecurity, I suppose. I was always kept away from everyone, always isolated and trained to live alone so I would never let my guard down with anyone else."

Usagi wondered what this meant. If he could never become accustomed to showing any weakness even in the company of those most dear to him, his own family, then why was she exempt from his barrier of isolation? Did he actually feel truly safe and comfortable with her alone, for some uncanny reason? Her tense, ecstatic heart felt as if it were about to burst with blind curiosity and a tormenting desire for acknowledgement. Yet still she held back her racing emotions the hardest she could, proceeding slowly with the question, "Why do you think that is?"

"I'm not sure," Demando said hesitantly, his voice rough and irregular, as if he were unable to let out the words he wanted to tell her. "Maybe it _was_ because I was exhausted yesterday from my travels. And your bed was so soft, and everything was so… nice." His face automatically burned a temporary shade of red as he looked away from her, blaming himself for being such an interminable coward.

Usagi released a soft, disappointed sigh. Without considering her words, she reminisced unhappily, with a touch of light impatience in her voice, "Mamoru and I used to fall asleep with each other sometimes, too… and then he would always carry me home while I snoozed through, unconscious of how hard he always tried not to stir me. And he never did. I always found myself in my own room, wrapped perfectly in my gold bed sheets, so warm and relaxed… but he would never be there. I loved him better than anyone then, for those little things."

She cut herself off, realizing that bitter, hot tears were amassing in her eyes. She hurriedly turned her face away, shivering a little as she shifted toward the other side of the bed. It was something that, as soon as she said it, relieved her of some burden she hadn't realized she was carrying. And yet she also had the ominous feeling that it was precisely the wrong thing to say at this moment, here in this dim and hostile room with an unnerved Demando.

A noticeable chill crept into the room, making Usagi shudder uncontrollably for the span of several seconds. When she faced Demando again, she saw that his face was turned completely away from her, and a slight slouch had somehow formed in his perpetually straight back. Not knowing what to say, she lay there and waited, far too sorry and ashamed of her careless insensitivity to budge from place.

"Demando?" Usagi finally managed to let out, after a long silence. She lifted a hand, about to reach out for him and gently station it on his firm shoulder, but suddenly she could not bear to touch him. A guilty mortification overcame her like an arching tsunami burying what was left of a weak fire; her courage was completely extinguished. She waited helplessly, teetering on the edge of action, but irrationally afraid of the consequences of speaking further, of embarrassing herself more. So she dropped her hand into her lap and receded into her feeble self, lost in her uncertainty and guilt.

"I should go now." Demando's voice was abrupt, cutting through the emptiness in the air around them. Not even the slightest fragment of emotion came through in the harsh sound. A lingering feeling accompanied his words as he sat there, staring disconsolately at the ground. It was as if he were expecting her to say something, perhaps even waiting for her to take it all back. To let the sound of that forbidden name disintegrate from memory and time with some magic words that could undo the imaginary strain between them.

"Why?" Usagi couldn't help but ask anxiously. Though she knew exactly what had caused him to shield himself against her now, she was doomed to abandon her senses again and again, letting impulse supplant reason in her actions. It was not curiosity that drove her to speak, but a desire to let some pathetic part of her be acknowledged; it was a will to see her unalterable destiny through, to predict the fall in her imagination and then watch it happen with a hopeless yet somehow irresistible sense of certainty.

And it happened, just as she knew it would. "You obviously want to be left alone with your recollections. There's no need for me to stay in here while you think about that…man." A certain belligerence in his voice betrayed his intense, raw feeling. His tremendous discomfort leaked through his hard front, though his sharp face remained impassive as he turned to her and gave her a slight nod out of detached courtesy.

"Besides, I have a kingdom to attend to. The threat of Pyrite has not subsided, even if she is not invading this palace base or Nemesis at this moment. We have a master sorceress to recapture, and I don't have the time to dawdle here with you." The pointed tone he used indicated a degree of impatience, as well as a bitterness that could not be concealed. His words were so piercingly cold and impersonal that Usagi could find no hint of hope in them, only a sense of her own inferiority in his eyes that seemed to slice directly into the vulnerable center of her stricken heart.

It would have hurt less to hear him shout in anger that he hated her, or even that he never wanted to see her again. But the way he spoke now, with such despicable complacency at being able to hurt her and such absolute disregard for what she felt, shattered any willingness to struggle she had left in her. It was both the choice of words and the manner with which he said them- _I don't have the time to dawdle here with you_. As if she were some lowly, infinitesimal creature that was too moronic to understand that she was interfering with his higher, more significant plans. He could have been addressing his archenemy, or an average servant, or an annoying sibling… anyone but a girl that he cared for and possibly loved. That was what devastated her the most; it was not vicious hate that she glimpsed in his murky violet eyes, but a sort of entitled disgust that she could not bear to see directed at her. And she could see no other way to interpret the miserable emotions wrought by that callous sound but to believe that he truly considered her worthless, an utter waste of his time.

But despite the terrible sadness she felt welling up within her, she could not bring herself to wrap her open wound away and apologize. The despair of believing in something with all her heart only to find all her dreams disappearing before her eyes paralyzed her as nothing else could. All she could do was hope for some miraculous admittance of love from Demando, saying he never meant a word of those ruthless lies and confessing his total adoration of her. So she remained there, her mouth a gaping hole of abandoned and unspeakable words, anticipating the impossible with tense anguish.

"I really never should have come here," Demando continued in that same icy voice, his angular face turning upwards towards the frames of nameless rulers sprawling across the dark, convoluted architecture of the ceiling above. "The air smells of unburied dead."

The shock wore off instantaneously as Demando spoke those unforgivable words with an unaffected air that was nearly inhuman. Usagi whirled around and knelt on the bed, positioning herself directly at his side with renewed energy. "How dare you say that." Sheer fury, the like of which she had never imagined herself experiencing, erupted through in each of her words. Her normally flushed face was now a chalky shade of pale white. She raised a trembling hand as if to slap him, but then let it fall slowly to her side, for some reason unable to physically touch the being that was now the source of her insurmountable rage.

Usagi was conscious that if she spoke what she was thinking she would be letting loose her full ire with an insolent degree of audacity, and willingly decided to throw aside all restraints, though her body secretly shuddered from the sheer intensity of her emotions and the terrible impact she knew her words would have. She knew she would regret her actions when the anger finally subsided, but she could not help herself. She only needed to say those things, to look in satisfaction upon Demando's inevitable misery at this moment. And so her fierce aquamarine eyes remained fixed on his solemn, slightly stricken face with deadly concentration, refusing to turn back from her raging path of destruction. She unleashed her insatiable fury by asking every question she had no right to ask, probing and pounding into his stone heart with relentless and unreserved force.

"Why do you feel the need to set up a wall around yourself when confronted with every little thing you can't accept? Why is it that even though Mamoru is no longer alive and unable to snatch me from you, you feel so threatened by him? And why are you so cold and cruel? Do you really want to make it impossible for anyone to get close to you because you're afraid to let anyone have access to those spots where you're most defenseless?" Her merciless inquiries hung there, cutting through the entire room as the transcendent echoes of those unanswerable questions shook both of them from within.

Utter disbelief registered on Demando's distressed face as Usagi struck him mentally, driving deeper into his heart with each correct guess. And then Usagi found what she had been searching for, as an eagle scours the plains for prey- a look of hurt, small but undeniably fixed in the cold darkness of Demando's eyes. She had scorched through the vast layers of ice, and the entire center of the glacier was collapsing on top of itself as the waters continued to leak through, unable to revert back to its original solid, detached state of perfection. The damage had been done, and now it was impossible to retract.

Demando shot up from the bed, wobbling slightly on his feet. He could no longer maintain his dignified posture as he walked; he seemed to drag onward toward the door, both hustling to leave and waiting for some nonexistent signal to stay. He paused when he reached the silver handles of the enormous door, but did not look back at Usagi. When only silence answered his hesitation, he spun the handle quickly and stepped out, disappearing into the blackness of the deserted hallway as dawn melted into day.

--

"I found Usagi!" Ami shouted to the other girls, who instantly leapt to their feet, scrambling to look at Ami's blue computer screen. Ami had spent all day attempting to locate Usagi's Silver Crystal through the connection between Usagi's crystal and her own transformation device, and the other girls had been patiently waiting as she drilled the mechanism for a solution. "It appears someone from outside our planet- an invader from the Negaverse- has taken her just out of Earth's orbit. She's in some kind of floating object in space, though not too far from here. She must have been captured, and perhaps imprisoned."

"We have to rescue her!" Rei jumped up at once. "If Usagi's in serious trouble, we need to be there for her no matter how bad the situation is. We owe her that much for being so slow to search for her in the first place. She really was in danger, after all."

"I agree," Minako said confidently. "We should go right away."

"But how will we get there?" Makoto asked practically, a troubled look on her face. "It's not as if we have any way to fly out into the atmosphere, at least as far as I know. We can't exactly go to the nearest space station and ask if we can borrow a shuttle so we can go beyond Earth's orbit and save our friend who's stuck in space."

"You're right," Minako sighed. "Do you have any ideas, Ami?"

"It's true that we won't be able to use modern technology," Ami said thoughtfully. "But we might be able to use our powers in some way to take us there."

"But our powers don't _do _that," Rei complained. "We can only use them for attack, not for teleportation."

"Maybe not individually," Ami said. "But we have large amounts of planetary power at our disposal. If we learned how to use it properly, I imagine we _will_ be able to head into space. Each time we complete our transformations, we draw on the power of the planets to fight our enemies. That means there's a connection between each of us and our corresponding planets. If we could manipulate that link around a bit, we should be able to draw out enough energy to carry us out into space, without any harm to us despite the change in environment."

"You're a genius," Makoto said, relieved. "I would have never thought about it that way. So now that we have a method, how do we use our powers to transport us?"

"I'm not sure," Ami admitted. "But I think we all know someone who would know- Luna."

"That's right! She was the one who introduced Usagi's powers to her in the first place!" Rei exclaimed.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Minako asked, smiling. The girls stood up and looked at each other, the exchange giving them comfort in their uncertain mission.

So they ran carelessly, the wind whipping their hair into waves, forward to Usagi's house.

--

Demando wandered aimlessly for a long time before he encountered another figure moving in the halls, slowly approaching him. There was no light in the windowless halls, and they were practically face-to-face when Demando realized that it was Safir who had been walking in that sinister manner toward him.

"Hello, Demando." The greeting was bland and emotionless, and somehow gave the impression of resignation. Demando sized up the unmoving silhouette in front of him, feeling strangely empty as he faced his younger brother.

"Where are you headed?" Demando asked, subconsciously wondering if Safir, like him, had no destination.

"I'm not going anywhere," Safir replied. "I'm just… taking a walk."

"So early?" Demando pressed, instinctively knowing there was more to those words than Safir wanted to convey. "Is something wrong?"

A strange ripple of emotion filled the air as Safir paused, mouth slightly open, desperately wanting to let it all out; yet it subsided as quickly as it came, and he spoke simply, without explanation, "No."

"I see," Demando said, sensing the lie in that single word. And before he could even think about it, some surging sensation in him freed his own secret from his clenched mouth. "Usagi and I just had a fight."

"Why?" Safir asked softly, reserving all judgment. It was one of the qualities of Safir that Demando had always valued, and his unobtrusive silence compelled Demando to continue.

"Because I was a coward and a fool," Demando said sadly. "I couldn't tell her how I felt about her, and I couldn't accept her as she was. I let my petty possessiveness take control when she spoke of the man who had loved her so much before he died. And I retaliated and drove her over the edge, all because I couldn't stand the idea that there was someone she could love more than me."

"How do you feel about her, honestly?" Safir asked quietly after he had absorbed this information. "Is it just that you think she would make the most suitable queen for our kingdom when the time comes for you to choose? Or do you really… love her?"

"Don't ask me that," Demando said, a deep pain in his voice. "I can't answer that question."

"You need to," Safir said firmly. "Or else you'll never be able to face her again. You said you acted like a coward when you were with her. This is your chance to prove that you're not."

"But I can't tell her that I…" Demando became silent for what seemed an eternity before finally finishing his sentence, whispering the words, "I love her."

Safir put his arm gently on his brother's shoulder, a gesture of reassurance and trust that gave Demando an internal feeling of strength. "You'll find the courage to do it. I know you will."

Demando slowly lifted Safir's hand off as he considered his situation, a sudden dejection apparent in his movement. "It won't make a difference now, Safir. If you had seen how she reacted, the way her eyes caught on fire… I think she hates me. She saw right through me, completely looked past that wall of perfect calm and coldness I always put around myself. Maybe I appear like a diamond on the surface, but she knows the truth now- I'm just a worthless chunk of ice, constantly afraid that one day something will get too close and melt me down."

"That's not true." Safir's wide navy-colored eyes glared him down with fierce objection. "You admitted to me that you loved her. If you can say that right to her face, then you are every bit the brilliant, unbreakable diamond you were named for. I know our parents taught you the exact opposite, but there's more to courage than being powerful or feared. You have to be able to confront the fears you wish you never had to face, and show that you're stronger than them. You were always forced to be harsh and hide your emotions so you would be a strong king, but true strength comes from being able to show those feelings, too. If you can break those ties that bind you to safety and comfort, and ride out the gales of the unknown, you will become an invincible king. I know it."

A spark of wonder came into Demando's eyes as he listened to his younger and infinitely more courageous brother. He smiled for the first time since the day had begun, marveling, "You're the wisest person I know, little brother. There's so much that I've never realized, and yet you seem to know everything that I never learned."

"It's what I've learned from watching you all these years, Demando," Safir said seriously. "Sometimes I got frustrated, living in your shadow. But eventually I realized something from seeing you struggle to become exactly the king everyone always wanted you to be: we can't walk the path fate has paved for us forever. You were destined to be king, destined to be the greatest and strongest and most feared in our land, yet that that superior destiny didn't make you any happier than anyone else. Despite the fact that we live on Nemesis, with different surroundings and a different society, we're very human, too. We can't trudge along on a road carved out for us, led by some ceaselessly moving force; we need to carve that path out for ourselves. Otherwise we'll never be free."

"Father wouldn't have wanted you to tell me that," Demando mused softly. "He would have wanted me to become what he believed was the ideal king."

"That's another thing I discovered," Safir said, a sad smile visible on his shadowy face. "No one can be the ideal king. Because not everyone will agree with all of his decisions. And sometimes he will be faced with questions that have no right answer."

"I know that now," Demando replied calmly. "All I can do is find my own way, and try to surpass the limits set for me by our father and the other ancient kings of Nemesis. Someday, even we might reach peace and live in happiness, together with the inhabitants of Earth. But for now… my highest priority is to make it up to Usagi."

Safir nodded thoughtfully. "That would be for the best."

Demando smiled gracefully, a light, translucent glow coloring the deep violet orb of his eyes. "Thank you."

He walked away with fixed resolve and an indestructible hope, through the intricate passages of the crystal fortress that were as tranquil as the eye of a hurricane.

--

Whew! I'm finally done- and the time it took wasn't as astronomically large as for chapter 10, which means I'm actually improving my time management. As you probably noticed, I foreshadowed a bit at the end… but I'm not giving any hints about what's going to happen. I think I'll have this story wrapped up within 5-8 chapters, depending on how it goes from here on. Thanks for reading, and reviews would be fantastic!


	12. Chapter 12

I have taken half a century to update. And I apologize to everyone who's been excited for a new chapter while I left this here for a year. I haven't been able to get to this at all, mainly because of school. Even so, my irresponsibility is inexcusable and I'm truly sorry to all of you who have supported me through this story. Without you, it would never have gotten as far as it did, and it's because of you that I continue, a whole year and a half later.

Anyway, about the new chapter. There's some background/alternate setting information here, with the view of a few people in Nemesis itself. Not sure if it'll be particularly "interesting", but it's meant to supply more setting information. Since this is a new twist to the story, feedback would be great.

* * *

"_You see what power is- to hold someone else's fear in your hand and show it to them." –Amy Tan_

In an enormous gold-plated citadel in Nemesis itself, the Nemesian Intelligence Center spies were diligently working to amass the planet's greatest weapons for anticipated war against the forces that Pyrite might employ in her savage enmity. Thousands of citizens had been called in to work on creating a superior arsenal and building up supplies. Every family had been ordered to follow certain guidelines issued by the government in the event of war. It was inevitable that Pyrite would strike sooner or later, and Nemesis had taken every precaution for its safety ahead of time.

* * *

"Supreme General Topaz has ordered that we should all proceed to the mining caves and stay out of sight if any threat arrives," a sonorous voice spoke from the Center, echoing across the entire land of Nemesis. "We will send out messengers soon to inform citizens of which cave is located the closest to each individual home. It is necessary that we all be prepared."

An ancient woman with frosty white hair and lifeless magenta eyes received this message with a scornful laugh. Sitting on a throne-like seat at the heart of the Intelligence Headquarters, she tossed her disheveled waves of hair back and muttered icily, "What use will any of these silly adjustments be when Pyrite returns? We may as well just wait for death to come to us. There are forces in play beyond our imagination, Supreme General. To have the power to shatter that hundred-year spell that even the reigning sorceress Pyrite could not touch- the last weapon of the seventh king of our line- there is nothing in our kingdom, or perhaps even in the universe, that can oppose such strength. And to think that all of that limitless energy is focused on our tiny planet, with all the malevolence of a century of stored hatred… we have absolutely no hope."

The Supreme General regarded her with a slight frown. He was a tall and dignified man, with wispy brown hair and tawny eyes that were full of life. But now there was a slight darkness, a hint of despair in the liquid depths of those wide eyes. "Perhaps you're right that the power of our enemies is beyond what we can muster here in this drained planet. But you should not say that there is no hope. It may be indeed that these are the last days, and we are destined to die no matter how hard we resist that fate. And maybe we will be saved by some power even beyond that of our enemies. But we cannot sit here and wait for our dooms, giving up without a struggle."

"I've struggled all my life to control everything, to strike at my opponents before they get the chance to strike at me, and to ensure the security of future generations on this planet," the woman replied bitterly. "And look where I am now. Living the same pitiful, unappreciated life that I would have anyway if I had never tried to do anything, never fought to help anyone. I'm old and helpless now, and someday in the near future I will be forgotten. It isn't worth it to try and fail. In the end, you're rewarded only with being remembered as a fool who wasted precious time and energy trying to achieve the impossible. At least if we surrender now, they will acknowledge that we saw the reality, instead of clinging to some pointless and imbecilic dream that we can still win even at the bitter end."

"You are very sensible," the Supreme General told her gently. "And your logic is quite flawless. Yet something in me cannot help but cling to precisely that hopeless dream you have such contempt for. It may be that I am not as wise as you are, that I am still young and idealistic and believe in everything that seems impossible. But I still hold to my words- I will never give up, not until that last precious moment of my life plunges into silence. I know you will try to convince me otherwise, and you are indeed very persuasive, but I will fight on, along with the rest of the people. I cannot accept now a defeat that has not yet come, for its unfulfilled acknowledgement would bring its reality."

"So you choose to give them the satisfaction of watching you squirm futilely to your demise," the aged woman said. "You will not follow my advice and take the dignified way out."

"I wish you would have more faith in your own grandson, Your Grand Majesty Pearline," Topaz replied softly. "Prince Demando is justly the future king of Nemesis. He will do everything in his power to save us all."

"Will he really?" Pearline asked testily, with a look of pure derision in her faintly violet eyes. "I wonder about that, General Topaz. Have you considered that he has the Silver Crystal in his grasp at this moment, and fails to use it? The future Neo Queen Serenity, perhaps the most powerful entity currently in the universe, is residing in his palace this very instant. And he watches over her and pampers her like a princess, letting her roam freely about his crystal castle while we are all here, waiting for death on this doomed planet. If he truly cared for our futures, then why has he not snatched the Silver Crystal from her and used it for our cause?"

"I wondered that myself," Topaz said honestly. "But I trust Demando. On the occasions that I've met with him, I found that he cares for nothing but the fate of Nemesis. It is in his blood, perhaps." He shot a meaningful glance at the former queen, who looked away quickly.

"He is no grandson of mine," she whispered angrily. "He's lost his head and allowed himself to grow soft like a complete fool, all because of that worthless girl."

Topaz smiled in slight amusement before responding earnestly, "I cannot judge him for that. He may be using her so he can slowly extract her powers and the Silver Crystal from her, over time. And even if he does not plan to absorb her powers for our dark energy, I'm certain that he has a plan. He's given me many orders over the past few days about building up our defensive forces and maintaining calm within Nemesian civilization."

"All in vain," the old woman muttered argumentatively, her hoarse voice launching a series of chills down Topaz's vertical spine. "Demando has no sense. Despite everything I taught him, everything his parents drilled into him, he still remains soft and weak at heart. He refused to accept Esmeraude as his wife at the age of 15 according to tradition, though he knew how the alliance between the imperial family and the most powerful noble family would unite the planet and strengthen our power. He allows his selfish, senseless emotions to get in the way of the greater good."

Topaz sighed heavily as he lowered his amber eyes away from those icy violet spheres of Pearline, wondering if any effort could convince such an unwaveringly pessimistic woman to change her mind. She had striven for decades to live as she believed was necessary- cold and calculating, devoid of all emotion, holding her authority over Nemesis like an iron fist hovering above a structure of destructible talc. But she had held that fist out for too long, and the iron became rusted until it was no stronger than the powdery stone it once held the power to bring to ruin. And so the wielder herself had crumbled, wasting away as she surrounded herself in a whirlwind of frozen hail, unwilling to recapture the warmth and light of the fire she had thrown away.

* * *

The four girls came to a breathless halt in front of Usagi's home. Casting hesitant glances at each other, they slowly shifted toward the front steps.

"Something feels wrong," Makoto said cautiously, pausing in front of the door. "We've looked around here before. We couldn't get into the house because we had no keys, but… don't you think it's strange that after Usagi's disappearance, Luna has never contacted us?"

"You're right!" Rei gasped, biting a glossy lip. "Do you think something happened to her as well?"

"We have to find out, though," Minako said suddenly, with more bravery than she felt. "It's not possible that both Usagi and Luna could have disappeared without a trace. We should go in and at least try to find some evidence of an intrusion, and use it to lead us to whoever we have to face."

"Minako's right," Ami agreed. "It's our only option, and the best chance we have to find a way to reach Usagi. I don't understand the forces used in these interplanetary bonding devices well enough to work out a method to generate the energy we would need to head into space. If we don't find Luna, we have no way to help Usagi. We've been searching aimlessly and waiting around for days. This time, we have to do something. For Usagi's sake."

"Okay, let's do it," Makoto replied, a look of determination creeping back into her grassy-green eyes. "We should break in. I happen to remember those loose window screen screws in her basement that we can use to our advantage. We'll loosen them more until the screen falls out."

"And we won't even have to break the window glass, because Usagi never remembers to shut the window in the evening," Rei reminded her, a fond smile playing across her oriental features.

"Lucky us," Ami laughed. The girls shuffled to the back of Usagi's house and quickly manipulated the wobbling screws until the screen toppled over, and then climbed into the house systematically. After they all entered the basement, Rei flicked one of the lights on and the Senshi stood, surveying their surroundings.

The first thing that drew the attention of each of them simultaneously was the slightly puffy shape of a feline figure lying motionless in an iron cage at the foot of the descending stairs. The still form was covered in unusual navy-blue fur, and though the animal's face was tilted to the side, the Senshi could make out the faint golden mark of a sliver of crescent moon on its forehead.

"Oh, my God," Minako whispered in awe and recognition. "It's Luna."

"Is she…?" A look of horror crossed Rei's face as she spoke, and she could not bring herself to finish the sentence. Minako put her finger over her lips sternly, and inched slowly towards the ambiguous blob that was trapped inside the metal walls. She moved the exterior walls around slightly, trying to rouse the small cat inside.

"Luna!" Makoto blurted in anxious desperation. "Please, wake up already!"

To the shock of the four girls, the cat rose from its fetal position and lifted its head towards them. The large red eyes widened at the sight of the frightened Senshi, and an expression of mingled shock and joy soon swept over its face. "Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter… you're all here!"

"Are you all right?" Minako cried. The relief that had filled her face was rapidly becoming a look of despair. "How will we get you out of this thing?"

"I don't know," Luna admitted unhappily, recognizing the degradation of the mood. "I've been in here for the past two weeks."

"What happened?" Ami asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Luna replied again. "For a brief moment I saw someone approach me, but now my memory is too fuzzy for me to recall any features. I was struck with some kind of energy beam, and suddenly fell out of consciousness. The next thing I knew, I was locked up in here with no possible method of escaping. It appears that whoever imprisoned me provided nourishment, but left immediately afterwards. I was running low on food for the past few days, and I thought it very likely that I would die in here."

"That's awful," Makoto muttered, shaking her head. "And to think we might not have found you here at all."

"I'm sorry, Luna," Ami said gently. "I feel terrible about what you've been through, and I really regret that we didn't look in here earlier. Usagi has vanished, and we were hoping that you would be able to help us get to her. We've located her in a floating object near the Earth's orbit, but we haven't been able to design any kind of mechanism that would enable us to reach it. You're our last hope to find Usagi while she's still alive, because at least we know that for sure now. We'll try our best to free you, although it might take some time."

"That's all right," Luna said, her face falling a bit. "It's natural that you wouldn't be able to unlock this cage easily. I've tried everything I could possibly imagine, and used every power I could draw up. Nothing worked."

* * *

Demando sat uncomfortably on his immaculate white sheets, attempting to summon up the courage to finally tell Usagi how he felt for her. He wanted to apologize in the best, most sincere possible way and make Usagi understand that he no longer wanted to intrude into her past and alter those parts of her being, making them fade and die before his desire for empty glory. He knew better now than to impose himself on someone he loved.

She was probably still angry, he thought miserably. After those subtle and disgusting comments he had made about something he had no right to pry into, he was certain that she would have a hard time forgiving him. If the situation were reversed and she had made those remarks about such a sensitive matter with him, he would probably have ordered her thrown out and made sure he never saw her again. But all the same, there was something about Usagi that made him believe that he could still apologize, genuinely and humbly, and that she would let go of all her anger and resentment and simply let what they had been slide forward again.

In truth, it was the idea of this faceless figure, Mamoru, that still made his stomach clench and forced minuscule beads of instantaneously evaporating sweat from his cold face. As long as he never gazed upon the now-dead man's form and had no sense of who Mamoru truly was, he would continue to fear him with an instinctive dread that could not be quelled. Even the way Usagi spoke the name, with such a nostalgic, endearing tone to her voice, intimidated him beyond all reason. It was almost laughable- what did he, future king of Nemesis and lord over all he surveyed, have to fear from a dead man?

But he did fear that preeminent prince. And the answer to that question thrived on, buried somewhere deep in his once untouchable heart. Perhaps it was his pride that brought out the onslaught of anxiety that taunted him each time the name was spoken. He was afraid that he would meet his match in the memory of an earthly prince, a man who might have been infinitely more regal and handsome and desirable than he ever would be. And he wondered, too, if he could ever measure up to such a man.

If, in some kinder scenario of life, he ever were in the position to give Usagi a gift, and she showed him her gratitude, he would always be left wondering if she had wished it Mamoru who was endowing her with his thoughtful generosity behind that delicate smile. Anytime he spoke to her, he would be ceaselessly tormented by the idea of another young man, speaking to her in an unimaginably charming and charismatic voice that was full of the life and emotion he was so lacking in. If he saw her gaze longingly upon his face, he could only imagine that perhaps she was not seeing him at all, but rather envisioning the form of another in his place, and the adoration that lit her eyes would be an illusion which captured both of them with hope-spawned lies. He would never be able to know how much of the love he received truly belonged to him, and how much of it was a distorted version of a passion lost in an unrepeatable past.

He sighed gently, trying to relieve himself of these dark thoughts floating around his mind. He had never been in love before, and he had no idea how to handle these rampant emotions that flew in at him from every direction. He could never sort his feelings for Usagi out the way he could logically determine everything else, with detached and analytical calm. But no matter which way they spiraled around and struck him, or how confused and happy and miserable they made him feel all at once, they centered around her. She held his heart in her hand.

His eyes shifted inevitably towards the portrait of Neo Queen Serenity that he had placed on his bedside bureau, and he fingered his soft white hair self-consciously as he faced her graceful smile. It was sweet, as she always was, but almost cold. Not cold in the sense of emanating unhappiness or anger, but cold in a sort of taunting way, almost as if she were saying through that brilliant smile _I'm perfectly happy here because I have everything I could ever want, and I don't need you. _The angelic queen didn't belong here in his frigid white room, nor even in his hard crystal palace. She belonged in some perfect, Demando-free world of her own, with a garden of endless flowers and a flawless palace and pretty prince attached to her side.

He didn't know how to come to terms with his own inability to understand his place in her heart, no matter which lovely and enigmatic form she took. Usagi had spent practically her entire life loving one person, and now that one person was gone. How much of her soul had Mamoru occupied when he was alive? And how much of him still lingered in her hidden grief, trapped by her fears of disloyalty and guilt? He could never know. And yet he had to know. He needed to sense the depth of the pit in order to fill the hole. He could never replace Mamoru, he knew. But he had to try to erase the gaping black hole of Mamoru's absence that crushed her happiness like a merciless stone impinging upon the fragile petals of a golden flower. That was all he wanted to do.

Because she had done that much for him, and more. Her presence in his crystal palace seemed to cast a light over it that could not die. It was like that earthly fable of a cave in wild regions that ensnared with stone cascades and breathed despair into those who entered, a prison whose darkness knew no bounds. But there was a single point of light from the azure sky that descended straight into the immeasurable terrors of death without purpose, and at its brilliant zenith was everything that such a miserable existence could hope for. There was a heaven to aspire to, and it lay in her eyes.

There was something in the crystal depths of her eyes that defied the monstrosities of both mankind and nature; somehow, their unerringly serene beauty evoked an unnamable emotion in him. They were, he realized, almost like a painting of the scenery of deep cerulean oceans on the lifeless moon, an impossible sight that could be beheld only in unspeakable wonder. Her eyes conveyed everything that was not, and yet one day could be. They were the ray of light in a world of darkness, and through them shone the deathless image of hope.

As he came out of this wondrous, almost reverent fantasy of the present Usagi, it occurred to him that things might be different for him. Perhaps that rare shot of Neo Queen Serenity in an alternate reality was stiff and her smile elusive, but in this dying world of the present that he had stumbled across she was another person. So it was Serenity's effortless grandeur that he had worshipped and obsessed over for years in secret desire, but it was Usagi's untainted innocence and compassion that he had truly fallen in love with.

It was strange, he mused. With Mamoru as her king, Usagi had slowly shaped into that dainty and unapproachable woman whose likeness he had admired for so long. And Serenity, in her radiant gowns and perfect makeup, possessed an unfading glory that had made him covet her. But even when he had witnessed her as her future self, the frosty queen with paradise beneath her feet, he saw that something in her was missing. And now, as he compared the two phases of the moon princess against his will, he realized what that was. What he perceived in Serenity lacked the heart that Usagi seemed to pour out into everything she did or felt. Her face was empty, a too-perfect painting stripped of all the emotions that made Usagi so appealing to him now. For Serenity had lived her entire life knowing her precise fate, and at times her imprisoned heart might have wished for something more. But she was always forced to shut the thought away out of loyalty and love, and her heart collapsed just a little more into itself until it was too small to care any longer. She had the face of someone who had submitted to her own destiny with such resignation that she had lost her ability to think for herself, and could now muster only the willpower to float along through life, feigning her aloof happiness. The resplendent queen, monarch of everything in her view, had given herself up to her kingdom and her fate, leaving little trace of the remarkable human being she had once been herself.

Demando finally realized his motivation for being with Usagi with a sudden jolt of passion. He had already seen the queen she was destined to become with Mamoru, the result of living through decades of knowing that everything was predetermined and believing that it was futile to struggle against the tides of Fate. He could understand her pain and bleak desperation to escape the elaborate cage that time had fashioned against her, and he could see that Mamoru's presence seemed to capture those bitter emotions and bind her to that destiny, whether or not he willed it. He knew all of these things about Usagi's future self, and as he pushed deeper and deeper into the tragedy of her life one overpowering emotion seemed to grow increasingly urgent: a desire to protect her.

Because he didn't want her to change into a hopeless, restricted woman over the ages, nor did he ever want to see her forfeit the greatest part of herself for her family and kingdom. It was evident that she was already bound in the tangled strings of fate, and her inability to fully recover and find herself after Mamoru's death was indicative of a problem that would wax with time. Unless he found a way to hold her hand and take her away from the imperfect utopia of her future, she would gradually fade away into the idea that there was a grand scheme of things which was worth sacrificing herself for. She would not die for it, but give away the most beautiful part of herself to it. And he could not stand and let that happen.

For she was the one who had showed him what it meant to care for other people. She had given him her sympathy, and not the empty, passive kind that lasted for a few moments before lifting out of memory forever. With it came a promise to make his tragic world a better place. Even with her own troubles, with the sudden introduction of entropy in an ideal universe through her lover's death, she had cared that much for her own captor and his degenerate society of long-banished criminals. If that part of her could be snatched away, then he felt certain that there would be nothing left in the future world that would be important enough to fight for. There was no "greater cause" in existence great enough to be allowed to diminish the beauty of the purest of all hearts.

Despite his apprehension and self-loathing and all the fears that he would pale in comparison to Usagi's former lover, he knew he could not back away and hide under his purposeless pretense forever. He was terrified of all those imagined phantoms coming to life, but he finally understood that there was something far more important waiting for him. No matter how pitifully he might be rejected, it did not matter in light of his love for Usagi. Even if she could not accept his feelings, he could still provide her with the small comfort that despite all the turmoil that had tumbled her old ordered world from its peaks, she was still loved. He cared for her more than he feared for himself. It was time.

* * *

Fire.

A smoldering white inferno flickered all around her in an ever-narrowing circle, and the incredible heat and light cast near-tangible shadows of death into her terrified eyes.

What had happened? Usagi's azure eyes flashed to the ceiling, drawn to the frescoes of ancient progenitors that were now being seared mercilessly by irreverent flames. She shuddered in spite of the intense heat, for the blaze seemed impenetrable. She was completely surrounded.

Tears filled her eyes as she watched helplessly, the ring of fire flickering closer toward her with each second passing by. There was no escape, and she was forced to accept that in her smoldering desperation. How she had slumbered through the rapid dance of flames she did not know, but as her wide eyes gazed at the high, unreachable ceiling above she knew it was too late to save herself. There was no gap; the flames seemed to have fused together for the common cause of her undoing.

And now as the heat rippled through the very air, beating cruelly on her skin and lungs, her consciousness began to waver like the dizzying motion of a pendulum, swayed by forces stronger than itself. Her thoughts slowly seemed to fade, and the surroundings became less real, until finally she could see only darkness, though her eyes were open clearly.

And then a figure emerged from that darkness, and it was Demando's body, but his head was turned from her and she could not see his face. She reached for that shape, somewhere above her, but it disappeared as suddenly as it came, and this time she could only a mask. It was the mask that Mamoru had worn as Tuxedo Mask, but there were no friendly cobalt-colored eyes waiting behind the black cloth. It came down towards her, covering her, smothering her. And as they came close enough to touch her, she could suddenly see eyes within the gaping holes carved out by the mask. But they were violet eyes.

She slumped to the floor, no longer conscious, and a triumphant Pyrite lifted her into the burning air and carried her away.

* * *

His agonized, unearthly scream made echoes in the palace chambers. At the heart of the flames he'd seen a sight he never wanted to see- Usagi unconscious, her gown scorched into ribbons, in the cold hands of that sorceress Pyrite. As she floated into the sky, fading away, Demando had screamed for her to release Usagi, slamming his fists into empty air. At this Pyrite gave him a vicious smile, relishing the torment of her abuser.

"Everything you once had is mine," she murmured, the wicked smile lingering on her amused face.

And she left in a whirlwind of flame, taking away the one person he truly loved and leaving behind the smoke of ghosts.

* * *

I hope people still enjoy this story, despite the extremely long lapse in writing. Reviews would also be lovely after all this time. Once again, my deepest apologies for the wait.


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